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 1168

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar P. J. Morwood

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

14 January 1920

Sydney Norman Mackenzie
Alice Marion Boyd

Sydney Norman MacKenzie
Alice Marion Boyd
💍 1920/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
29

Onerahi
Onerahi

6 months
18 months

Church of England, Onerahi

1137

14 January 1920

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	14 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Norman Mackenzie	Alice Marion Boyd
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Norman MacKenzie	Alice Marion Boyd
	💍 1920/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Onerahi	Onerahi
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Onerahi
Folio	1137
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

21 January 1920

William Cotton
Camelia May Hicks

William Cotton
Camelia May Hicks
💍 1920/2178

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 13th March 1917

Farmer
Domestic

26
37

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
4 days

Registrars office, Whangarei

1138

21 January 1920

P. J. Morwood, Deputy Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	21 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cotton	Camelia May Hicks
	💍 1920/2178
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 13th March 1917
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	37
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars office, Whangarei
Folio	1138
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1920
Officiating Minister	P. J. Morwood, Deputy Registrar

21 January 1920

George Wallbank
Violet Elizabeth Sketchley

George Wallbank
Violet Elizabeth Sketchley
💍 1920/2179

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic

28
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

28 years
8 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1139

Richard Sketchley, Father

21 January 1920

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	21 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wallbank	Violet Elizabeth Sketchley
	💍 1920/2179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	28 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1139
Consent	Richard Sketchley, Father
Date of Certificate	21 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

22 January 1920

Richard Allan Powell
Emily Harriet James

Richard Allan Powell
Emily Harriet James
💍 1920/2180

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

27
25

Whangarei
Whangarei

27 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

1140

22 January 1920

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Allan Powell	Emily Harriet James
	💍 1920/2180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	1140
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

24 January 1920

Carl Samuel North
Ida Edith Annie Carl Mortemore

Carl Samuel North
Ida Edith Annie Earl Mortimore
💍 1920/2181

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

19
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

19 years
20 years

Residence of W. H. Mortemore, Maunu Road, Whangarei

1141

George Richardson North (father); William Henry Mortemore, father

24 January 1920

Rev. J. R. Clarke, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	24 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Samuel North	Ida Edith Annie Carl Mortemore
BDM Match (97%)	Carl Samuel North	Ida Edith Annie Earl Mortimore
	💍 1920/2181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Mortemore, Maunu Road, Whangarei
Folio	1141
Consent	George Richardson North (father); William Henry Mortemore, father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Clarke, 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).