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 1236

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar A. Roberts

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

7 August 1920

Walter Edward Howearch
Elizabeth Haena

Walter Edward Howearth
Elizabeth Haera
💍 1920/12442

Widower Not heard of wife as alive for seven assumed years last past
Widow 12 December 1918

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
27

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Hawera

8100

7 August 1920

W. G. Farrie, Deputy Registrar

No	68
Date of Notice	7 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Howearch	Elizabeth Haena
BDM Match (94%)	Walter Edward Howearth	Elizabeth Haera
	💍 1920/12442
Condition	Widower Not heard of wife as alive for seven assumed years last past	Widow 12 December 1918
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hawera
Folio	8100
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1920
Officiating Minister	W. G. Farrie, Deputy Registrar

9 August 1920

Robert Harcus Davis
Anne Frances Mulligan

Robert Harcus Davis
Anne Frances Mulligan
💍 1920/8236

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic Duties

30
30

Hawera
Hawera

4 days
6 years

Roman Catholic Church Hawera

8101

9 August 1920

P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

No	69
Date of Notice	9 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harcus Davis	Anne Frances Mulligan
	💍 1920/8236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic Duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hawera
Folio	8101
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1920
Officiating Minister	P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

13 August 1920

John McLeod
Florence Grace Collins

John McLeod
Florence Grace Collins
💍 1920/12510

Divorced Decree Absolute 20 February 1920
Divorced Decree Absolute 23 February 1920

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

31
27

Hawera
Hawera

5 months
5 months

Residence E. Friberg Disraeli Street Hawera

8102

13 August 1920

E. Friberg, Salvation Army Official

No	70
Date of Notice	13 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLeod	Florence Grace Collins
	💍 1920/12510
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 20 February 1920	Divorced Decree Absolute 23 February 1920
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence E. Friberg Disraeli Street Hawera
Folio	8102
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1920
Officiating Minister	E. Friberg, Salvation Army Official

14 August 1920

Francis Henry Walker
Ada Nellie Kennedy

Francis Henry Walker
Ada Nellie Kennedy
💍 1920/8247

Bachelor
Spinster

Baconcurer
Clerk

22
22

Hawera
Hawera

11 years
4 years

Methodist Parsonage South Road Hawera

8103

14 August 1920

A. Liversedge, Methodist

No	71
Date of Notice	14 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Walker	Ada Nellie Kennedy
	💍 1920/8247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baconcurer	Clerk
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	11 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage South Road Hawera
Folio	8103
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1920
Officiating Minister	A. Liversedge, Methodist

18 August 1920

Arthur Henry Greener
Sarah May Poole

Arthur Henry Greener
Sarah May Poole
💍 1920/8252

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
24

Normanby Hawera
Normanby Hawera

6 weeks
7 months

Church of England Normanby

8104

18 August 1920

R. Franklin, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	18 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Greener	Sarah May Poole
	💍 1920/8252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Normanby Hawera	Normanby Hawera
Length of Residence	6 weeks	7 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Normanby
Folio	8104
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Franklin, Church of England

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).