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 964

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar J. Mitchell

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

14 July 1920

Edgar Butt
Victoria Annabella Caroline Dansey

Edgar Butt
Victoria Annabella Caroline Dansey
💍 1920/8169

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil servant
Domestic Duties

25
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

20 years
10 years

St Faith's Church of England Ohinemutu

7965

14 July 1920

Rev. H. Munro

No	38
Date of Notice	14 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Butt	Victoria Annabella Caroline Dansey
	💍 1920/8169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil servant	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Faith's Church of England Ohinemutu
Folio	7965
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Munro

22 July 1920

Patrick William O'Sullivan
Katherine Gertrude Mary Evans

Patrick William O'Sullivan
Katherine Gertrude Evans
💍 1920/8170

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
29

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 days
5 days

Roman Catholic Church Rotorua

7966

22 July 1920

Rev. P. O'Callaghan

No	39
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick William O'Sullivan	Katherine Gertrude Mary Evans
BDM Match (91%)	Patrick William O'Sullivan	Katherine Gertrude Evans
	💍 1920/8170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rotorua
Folio	7966
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Callaghan

23 July 1920

William Young
Eleanor Margaret Henderson

William Young
Eleanor Margaret Henderson
💍 1920/8171

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber worker
Domestic Duties

34
33

Rotorua
Rotorua

14 days
18 years

Residence of W. E. H. Henderson Pukaki Street Rotorua

7967

23 July 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson

No	40
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Young	Eleanor Margaret Henderson
	💍 1920/8171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber worker	Domestic Duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	14 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. E. H. Henderson Pukaki Street Rotorua
Folio	7967
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson

27 July 1920

Victor George Clift
Margaret Macdonald

Victor George Clift
Margaret Macdonald
💍 1920/8172

Bachelor
Spinster

Garage proprietor
Music teacher

27
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 months
1 year

St Faith's Church of England Ohinemutu

7968

27 July 1920

Rev. H. Munro

No	41
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor George Clift	Margaret Macdonald
	💍 1920/8172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garage proprietor	Music teacher
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	St Faith's Church of England Ohinemutu
Folio	7968
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Munro

3 August 1920

Hercules Jordan
Amy Sophia Sykes

Hercules Jordan
Amy Sophia Sykes
💍 1920/8173

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nursing Sister

37
30

Rotorua
Rotorua

9 years
9 months

St Luke's Anglican Church Haupapa Street Rotorua

7969

3 August 1920

Rev. H. L. B. Goertz

No	42
Date of Notice	3 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hercules Jordan	Amy Sophia Sykes
	💍 1920/8173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nursing Sister
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	9 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church Haupapa Street Rotorua
Folio	7969
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. B. Goertz

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).