Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840491, 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.

1920d contains pages 1399-1884, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1427

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. Braithwaite

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

9 March 1920

Ralph Erskine Hewat
Louie Audrey Gross

Ralph Erskine Hewat
Louie Audrey Crosse
💍 1920/2350

Bachelor
Spinster

Business Agent
Domestic Duties

26
22

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
22 years

St Matthews Church Hastings

1366

9 March 1920

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	31
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Erskine Hewat	Louie Audrey Gross
BDM Match (95%)	Ralph Erskine Hewat	Louie Audrey Crosse
	💍 1920/2350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Business Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	1366
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

16 March 1920

William Ferrier
Margaret Brown

William Ferrier
Margaret Brown
💍 1920/2351

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

25
22

Hastings
Hastings

7 days
22 years

Residence of Mrs J. Brown Maraekakaho Rd. Hastings

1367

16 March 1920

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	32
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ferrier	Margaret Brown
	💍 1920/2351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Brown Maraekakaho Rd. Hastings
Folio	1367
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

22 March 1920

George Harold Robertson
Ella Frances Yule

George Harold Robertson
Ella Frances Yule
💍 1920/2353

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic Duties

29
25

Hastings
Hastings

5 days
5 months

Tiromoana Homestead Hastings

1368

22 March 1920

Rev. P. H. Catherwood

No	33
Date of Notice	22 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harold Robertson	Ella Frances Yule
	💍 1920/2353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Tiromoana Homestead Hastings
Folio	1368
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Catherwood

23 March 1920

William Paton
Jane Bruce Noble

William Paton
Jane Bruce Noble
💍 1920/60

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Typiste

34
21

Havelock North
Napier

10 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri

1439

23 March 1920

Rev. Connor

No	34
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paton	Jane Bruce Noble
	💍 1920/60
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Typiste
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	1439
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Connor

23 March 1920

Elgren Henry Kitt
Constance Mable Abbott

Elgren Henry Kitt
Constance Mable Abbott
💍 1920/2354

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
24

Hastings
Hastings

22 years
24 years

Wesleyan Church Hastings

1369

23 March 1920

Rev. MacLean

No	35
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elgren Henry Kitt	Constance Mable Abbott
	💍 1920/2354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Hastings
Folio	1369
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. MacLean

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).