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 958

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar W. Forrest

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

18 March 1920

Frederick John Francis Peters
Margaret May McKinnon

Frederick John Francis Peters
Margaret May McKinnor
💍 1920/4606

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
26

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
22 years

St John's Presbyterian Church Rotorua

1033

18 March 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	18 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Francis Peters	Margaret May McKinnon
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick John Francis Peters	Margaret May McKinnor
	💍 1920/4606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church Rotorua
Folio	1033
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

22 March 1920

Charles Henry Baldson
Gertrude Tucker

Charles Henry Balsdon
Gertrude Tucker
💍 1920/4607

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

26
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 years
16 years

W. H. Tucker's Residence Eruera Street Rotorua

1034

22 March 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	22 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Baldson	Gertrude Tucker
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Henry Balsdon	Gertrude Tucker
	💍 1920/4607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	W. H. Tucker's Residence Eruera Street Rotorua
Folio	1034
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

27 March 1920

Frederick Charles Liddy
Esther Elizabeth Kane

Frederick Charles Liddy
Esther Elizabeth Kane
💍 1920/4584

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

28
25

Rotorua
Rotorua

12 months
11 months

St Michael's Roman Catholic Church Rotorua

1035

27 March 1920

Rev. Dean A. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	27 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Liddy	Esther Elizabeth Kane
	💍 1920/4584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	12 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St Michael's Roman Catholic Church Rotorua
Folio	1035
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean A. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

30 March 1920

William George Sanders
Valetta Florence Comer

William George Sanders
Valetta Florence Comer
💍 1920/4585

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

22
21

Kaharoa
Kaharoa

6 years
4 months

St Luke's Church of England Haupapa St Rotorua

1036

30 March 1920

Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Sanders	Valetta Florence Comer
	💍 1920/4585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Kaharoa	Kaharoa
Length of Residence	6 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England Haupapa St Rotorua
Folio	1036
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

30 March 1920

John Hughes
Christina Ruby Goodson

John Hughes
Christina Ruby Goodson
💍 1920/4586

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

24
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

12 months
24 years

St John's Presbyterian Church Rotorua

1037

30 March 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hughes	Christina Ruby Goodson
	💍 1920/4586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	12 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church Rotorua
Folio	1037
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, 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).