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 1066

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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

11 August 1920

Joseph William Roberts
Irene Dauntless McCollum

Joseph William Roberts
Irene Dauntless McCollum
💍 1920/8304

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

36
23

Waitakaruru
Thames

4 months
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames

8034

11 August 1920

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	11 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Roberts	Irene Dauntless McCollum
	💍 1920/8304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	8034
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1920
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

27 August 1920

Edward Bennett O'Neil Tait
Mary Francis Eva Johnson

Edward Emmett O'Neil
Mary Francis Hellam Eva Johnson
💍 1920/8305

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

34
19

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

1 week
5 years

St Mary's Church, Hikutaia

8035

Alfred Edward Sumner Johnson

27 August 1920

Rev. Dobson

No	38
Date of Notice	27 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bennett O'Neil Tait	Mary Francis Eva Johnson
BDM Match (71%)	Edward Emmett O'Neil	Mary Francis Hellam Eva Johnson
	💍 1920/8305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	1 week	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Hikutaia
Folio	8035
Consent	Alfred Edward Sumner Johnson
Date of Certificate	27 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dobson

1 September 1920

Robert William Lloyd
Mary Sweedman

Robert William Lloyd
Mary Sweedman
💍 1920/8306

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 31 August 1920)

Hotelkeeper
Housekeeper

43
40

Thames
Thames

3 months
2 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames

8036

1 September 1920

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	1 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Lloyd	Mary Sweedman
	💍 1920/8306
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 31 August 1920)
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Housekeeper
Age	43	40
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	8036
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1920
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

2 September 1920

Stanley Hartwell
Charlotte Jenkin Scouller

Stanley Hartnell
Charlotte Jenkin Smith
💍 1920/8307

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Shop assistant

24
27

Thames
Thames

4 years
27 years

Baptist Church, Thames

8037

2 September 1920

Rev. Farquharson Jones

No	40
Date of Notice	2 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Hartwell	Charlotte Jenkin Scouller
BDM Match (83%)	Stanley Hartnell	Charlotte Jenkin Smith
	💍 1920/8307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Shop assistant
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Thames
Folio	8037
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Farquharson Jones

7 September 1920

James Alfred Colhoun
Marjorie Maxwell Raeburn

James Alfred Colhoun
Marjorie Maxwell Raeburn
💍 1920/8308

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Exchange clerk

24
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
12 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Thames

8038

7 September 1920

Rev. Milne

No	41
Date of Notice	7 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Colhoun	Marjorie Maxwell Raeburn
	💍 1920/8308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Exchange clerk
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	8038
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Milne

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).