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 1350

District of Patea Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar G. Ormsby

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

3 August 1920

Allan Mathew Greig
Sadie Christina Ward

Allan Mathew Greig
Sadie Christina Ward
💍 1920/8361

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

28
21

Patea
Patea

3 years
4 years

St Georges Anglican Church Patea

8202

3 August 1920

Rev W. A. Allan, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	3 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Mathew Greig	Sadie Christina Ward
	💍 1920/8361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Anglican Church Patea
Folio	8202
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Allan, Anglican

11 August 1920

Reginald Arthur Billows
Elsie Clara Ogilvie

Reginald Arthur Billows
Elsie Clare Ogilvie
💍 1920/12330

Bachelor
Spinster

Indentor
Clerk

28
23

Patea
Patea

4 days
8 days

Residence of Mrs Mary Clara McFarlane, Stafford Street, Patea

8203

11 August 1920

Rev H. B. Lion, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	11 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Arthur Billows	Elsie Clara Ogilvie
BDM Match (97%)	Reginald Arthur Billows	Elsie Clare Ogilvie
	💍 1920/12330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indentor	Clerk
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	4 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Clara McFarlane, Stafford Street, Patea
Folio	8203
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Lion, Presbyterian

23 August 1920

Frederick William Newton
Kathleen Julia McCarthy

Frederick William Newton
Kathleen Julia McCarthy
💍 1920/12331

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
30

Hurleyville
Hurleyville

10 years
30 years

Residence of Mr William Arthur Allen, Alton

8204

23 August 1920

Rev W. A. Allan, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	23 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Newton	Kathleen Julia McCarthy
	💍 1920/12331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Hurleyville	Hurleyville
Length of Residence	10 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Arthur Allen, Alton
Folio	8204
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Allan, Anglican

26 August 1920

James Lindwood McKenzie
Mary Keane

James Gidwood McKenzie
Mary Keane
💍 1920/8363

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
28

Patea
Patea

1 day
18 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Patea

8205

30 August 1920

Rev. P. Duffy, Roman Catholic

No	19
Date of Notice	26 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lindwood McKenzie	Mary Keane
BDM Match (96%)	James Gidwood McKenzie	Mary Keane
	💍 1920/8363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	1 day	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Patea
Folio	8205
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Duffy, Roman Catholic

16 September 1920

Hector Ford
Adelaide Fowler

Hector Lord
Adelaide Fowler
💍 1920/8364

Bachelor
Widow (19th November 1919)

Carpenter
Domestic

27
24

Patea
Patea

5 weeks
7 years

Residence of Mrs Adelaide Fowler, Egmont Street, Patea

8206

16 September 1920

Rev W. A. Allan, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	16 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Ford	Adelaide Fowler
BDM Match (95%)	Hector Lord	Adelaide Fowler
	💍 1920/8364
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (19th November 1919)
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	5 weeks	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Adelaide Fowler, Egmont Street, Patea
Folio	8206
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Allan, Anglican

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).