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 1058

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 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

21 February 1920

William Walter Andrews
Agnes Johnson

William Walter Andrews
Agnes Johnson
💍 1920/2520

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

25
22

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

3 weeks
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Thames

1088

21 February 1920

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	21 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Andrews	Agnes Johnson
	💍 1920/2520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	1088
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1920
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

5 March 1920

Stanley Leonard Danby
Jessie Ross

Stanley Leonard Danby
Jessie Ross
💍 1920/2521

John Thomas Kay
Jessie Ross
💍 1920/4840

George Dennis
Jessie Ross
💍 1920/5560

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Duties

25
26

Thames
Thames

25 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Thames

1089

5 March 1920

Rev A. Mitchell

No	7
Date of Notice	5 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Leonard Danby	Jessie Ross
	💍 1920/2521
BDM Match (67%)	John Thomas Kay	Jessie Ross
	💍 1920/4840
BDM Match (62%)	George Dennis	Jessie Ross
	💍 1920/5560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	1089
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Mitchell

12 March 1920

Henry Augustus Sydney Green
Ivy Mary Dagly Gaby

Henry Augustus Sydney Levien
Ivy Mary D'Oyly Gaby
💍 1920/2522

Divorced (Decree absolute 27 February 1920)
Spinster

Clerk
Stenographer

39
25

Thames
Thames

4 months
3 months

Presbyterian Parsonage, Thames

1090

12 March 1920

Rev A. Blue

No	8
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Augustus Sydney Green	Ivy Mary Dagly Gaby
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Augustus Sydney Levien	Ivy Mary D'Oyly Gaby
	💍 1920/2522
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 27 February 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Stenographer
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Parsonage, Thames
Folio	1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Blue

23 March 1920

Leonard Moyle
Mary Eliza Bolton

Leonard Moyle
Mary Eliza Polton
💍 1920/2523

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Milliner

22 years
24 years

Thames
Thames

5 days
24 years

St George's Church, Thames

1091

23 March 1920

Rev Beck

No	9
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Moyle	Mary Eliza Bolton
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Moyle	Mary Eliza Polton
	💍 1920/2523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Milliner
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	1091
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Beck

23 March 1920

James Sourin
Ellen Agnes Johnston

James Tonkin
Ellen Agnes Johnston
💍 1920/2524

Bachelor
Spinster

Buttermaker
Domestic Duties

27 years
24 years

Thames
Thames

10 days
24 years

St George's Church, Thames

1092

23 March 1920

Rev Beck

No	10
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sourin	Ellen Agnes Johnston
BDM Match (88%)	James Tonkin	Ellen Agnes Johnston
	💍 1920/2524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker	Domestic Duties
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	10 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	1092
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Beck

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).