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 1034

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar J. G. Williams

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

23 August 1920

Lawrence William Pickett
Florence Eliza Earl

Lawrence William Pickett
Florence Eliza Earl
💍 1920/8302

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Housemaid

21
19

Ohaupo
Ohaupo

4 years
1 year

Christ Church, Ohaupo

8008

John Walter Earl, Father

23 August 1920

Rev. C. W. Turner, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	23 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence William Pickett	Florence Eliza Earl
	💍 1920/8302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Housemaid
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Ohaupo	Ohaupo
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Ohaupo
Folio	8008
Consent	John Walter Earl, Father
Date of Certificate	23 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Turner, Anglican

13 September 1920

Thomas Atkinson
Ellen Crawford

Thomas Atkinson
Ellen Crawford
💍 1920/8279

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Manager
Domestic

33
31

Te Awamutu
Te Mawhai

3 days
2 months

Residence of Mr G. Cricksharn, Te Mawhai

8009

13 September 1920

Rev. S. Henderson, Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	13 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Atkinson	Ellen Crawford
	💍 1920/8279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Manager	Domestic
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Mawhai
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. Cricksharn, Te Mawhai
Folio	8009
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Henderson, Methodist

25 September 1920

James Alan Marston
Mary Ramsay

James Alan Marston
Mary Ramsay
💍 1920/8280

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

23
24

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

One year
Seven years

Presbyterian Church, Te Awamutu

8010

25 September 1920

Rev. J. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	25 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alan Marston	Mary Ramsay
	💍 1920/8280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	One year	Seven years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	8010
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

25 September 1920

George Boot
Margaret Harker

George Boot
Margaret Harker
💍 1920/8281

Divorced decree absolute 23 March 1914
Spinster

Farmer

29
23

Te Rore
Te Rore

3 days
2 months

Residence of J. Harker, Te Rore

8011

25 September 1920

Rev. D. N. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	25 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Boot	Margaret Harker
	💍 1920/8281
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 23 March 1914	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Te Rore	Te Rore
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Harker, Te Rore
Folio	8011
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. N. McKenzie, Presbyterian

27 September 1920

Norman Gordon Topliss
Kathleen Rosengrave McLinn

Norman Gordon Topp
Kathleen Rosengrave McFlinn
💍 1920/8282

Bachelor
Spinster

Attendant Mental Hospital

27
21

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

6 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Kihikihi

8012

27 September 1920

Rev. J. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	27 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Gordon Topliss	Kathleen Rosengrave McLinn
BDM Match (87%)	Norman Gordon Topp	Kathleen Rosengrave McFlinn
	💍 1920/8282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Attendant Mental Hospital
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kihikihi
Folio	8012
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

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).