Intentions to Marry, 1920 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840490, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920c contains pages 939-1398, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1366

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar S. J. James

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

17 July 1920

James Butler
Agnes Ellen Geoghan

James Butler
Agnes Ellen Geoghan
💍 1920/8353

Bachelor
Widow November 12, 1918

Labourer

32
33

Toko
Toko

14 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

8214

17 July 1920

F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	42
Date of Notice	17 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Butler	Agnes Ellen Geoghan
	💍 1920/8353
Condition	Bachelor	Widow November 12, 1918
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	8214
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1920
Officiating Minister	F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

23 July 1920

William Henry Andrews Cannon
Rose Rowena Vince

William Henry Andrews Cannon
Rose Rowena Vince
💍 1920/8354

Widower May 10, 1919
Widow November 26, 1918

Butcher

43
34

Stratford
Stratford

12 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

8215

23 July 1920

J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Andrews Cannon	Rose Rowena Vince
	💍 1920/8354
Condition	Widower May 10, 1919	Widow November 26, 1918
Profession	Butcher
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	12 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	8215
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

23 July 1920

Stanley Egmont Neilson
Mildred Alice Oliver

Stanley Egmont Neilson
Mildred Alice Oliver
💍 1920/12332

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Milliner

23
22

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Stratford

8216

23 July 1920

L. B. Neale, Methodist

No	44
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Egmont Neilson	Mildred Alice Oliver
	💍 1920/12332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Milliner
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	8216
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	L. B. Neale, Methodist

24 July 1920

Charles Wilfrid Goodwin
Daisy Helen Calvat

Charles Wilfred Goodwin
Daisy Helen Calvert
💍 1920/8355

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typiste

26
30

Stratford
Stratford

26 years
5 days

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

8217

24 July 1920

G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Wilfrid Goodwin	Daisy Helen Calvat
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Wilfred Goodwin	Daisy Helen Calvert
	💍 1920/8355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typiste
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	26 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	8217
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	G. W. Howard, Church of England

24 July 1920

Martin Peter Anderson
Bessie Dickens

Martin Peter Andersen
Bessie Vickers
💍 1920/12333

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Midhirst
Midhirst

26 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Midhirst

8218

24 July 1920

L. B. Neale, Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Peter Anderson	Bessie Dickens
BDM Match (90%)	Martin Peter Andersen	Bessie Vickers
	💍 1920/12333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Midhirst
Folio	8218
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	L. B. Neale, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).