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 1062

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar H. P. 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

19 April 1920

John Desmond O'Sullivan
Gladys Mary Wright

John Desmond OSullivan
Gladys Mary Wright
💍 1920/5905

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

22
18

Thames
Puriri Thames

22 years
18 years

St Francis Church Thames

4999

Henry Thomas Wright Father

19 April 1920

Rev Father Dignan

No	17
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Desmond O'Sullivan	Gladys Mary Wright
BDM Match (98%)	John Desmond OSullivan	Gladys Mary Wright
	💍 1920/5905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Puriri Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church Thames
Folio	4999
Consent	Henry Thomas Wright Father
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Dignan

3 May 1920

Reginald Robert White
Dulcibel Hudson

Reginald Rolt White
Dulcibel Hudson
💍 1920/5906

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
27

Turua
Thames

3 days
27 years

Residence of Brides parents Parawai Thames

5000

3 May 1920

J. Farquharson Jones

No	18
Date of Notice	3 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Robert White	Dulcibel Hudson
BDM Match (93%)	Reginald Rolt White	Dulcibel Hudson
	💍 1920/5906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Turua	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides parents Parawai Thames
Folio	5000
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Farquharson Jones

6 May 1920

William Henry Buckley
Eunice Evelyn McLaughlin

William Henry Buckley
Eunice Eveline McLoughlin
💍 1920/1307

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Domestic Duties

23
20

Thames
Thames

23 years
4 1/2 years

St Francis Church Thames

5001

Mary Jane McLaughlin

6 May 1920

Rev Father Murphy

No	19
Date of Notice	6 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Buckley	Eunice Evelyn McLaughlin
BDM Match (94%)	William Henry Buckley	Eunice Eveline McLoughlin
	💍 1920/1307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church Thames
Folio	5001
Consent	Mary Jane McLaughlin
Date of Certificate	6 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Murphy

8 May 1920

Herbert Jesse Beverly
Edith Hazel Alexander

Herbert Jesse Clevely
Edith Hazel Alexander
💍 1920/1318

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

22
22

Kopuarahi
Kopuarahi

4 years
6 years

Methodist Church Thames

5002

8 May 1920

Rev A. Mitchell

No	20
Date of Notice	8 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Jesse Beverly	Edith Hazel Alexander
BDM Match (93%)	Herbert Jesse Clevely	Edith Hazel Alexander
	💍 1920/1318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Kopuarahi	Kopuarahi
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thames
Folio	5002
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Mitchell

14 May 1920

Frederick George Wilton
Catherine Wallis

Frederick George Wilton
Catherine Wallis
💍 1920/1325

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Cook

34
34

Thames
Thames

3 weeks
3 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames

5003

14 May 1920

Robert Lloyd Deputy Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	14 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Wilton	Catherine Wallis
	💍 1920/1325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Cook
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames
Folio	5003
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Robert Lloyd Deputy Registrar

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).