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 1072

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

29 November 1920

Albert Thomas Brokenshire
Elvira Margaret Serpell

Albert Thomas Brokenshire
Elvira Margaret Serfall
💍 1920/11716

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

33
29

Thames
Thames

29 years
5 years

Wesleyan Church, Thames

10983

29 November 1920

Rev. W. Lee

No	58
Date of Notice	29 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thomas Brokenshire	Elvira Margaret Serpell
BDM Match (96%)	Albert Thomas Brokenshire	Elvira Margaret Serfall
	💍 1920/11716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	29 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Thames
Folio	10983
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee

1 December 1920

Joseph Jenkins
Mary Isibar Scull

Joseph Jenkin
Mary Le Bar Bull
💍 1920/12397

Divorced (Date of Decree Absolute 16 December 1913)
Widow

Foreman Government Works
Domestic Duties

52
53

Thames
Thames

42 years
45 years

Residence of Richard Preece, Waiotahi Creek, Thames

10984

1 December 1920

Rev. E. H. Taylor

No	59
Date of Notice	1 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Jenkins	Mary Isibar Scull
BDM Match (79%)	Joseph Jenkin	Mary Le Bar Bull
	💍 1920/12397
Condition	Divorced (Date of Decree Absolute 16 December 1913)	Widow
Profession	Foreman Government Works	Domestic Duties
Age	52	53
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	42 years	45 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Preece, Waiotahi Creek, Thames
Folio	10984
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Taylor

1 December 1920

Alfred Charles Wallace
Jessie Guest

Alfred Charles Wallace
Jessie Beck
💍 1920/11717

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

25
24

Ngatea
Turua

5 years
15 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

10985

1 December 1920

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	60
Date of Notice	1 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Charles Wallace	Jessie Guest
BDM Match (83%)	Alfred Charles Wallace	Jessie Beck
	💍 1920/11717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Turua
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	10985
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1920
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

2 December 1920

David Augustus Vincent
Gladys Ada Harper

David Augustus Vincent
Gladys Ada Harper
💍 1920/11718

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper and saddler
Domestic

27
21

Ngatea
Ngatea

6 months
5 months

Dwelling of G. Harper, Ngatea

10986

2 December 1920

Rev. Dobson

No	61
Date of Notice	2 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Augustus Vincent	Gladys Ada Harper
	💍 1920/11718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper and saddler	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	6 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of G. Harper, Ngatea
Folio	10986
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dobson

3 December 1920

Edward Allan
Bridget Knox

Edward Nolan
Bridget Knox
💍 1920/11719

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

36
23

Tauranga
Okoroire

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Thames

10987

3 December 1920

Rev. Beck

No	62
Date of Notice	3 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Allan	Bridget Knox
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Nolan	Bridget Knox
	💍 1920/11719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Okoroire
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	10987
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Beck

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).