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 1443

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 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

103

19 July 1920

James Henry Cropper
Elsie Gladys Smart

James Henry Cropper
Elsie Gladys Smart
💍 1920/8667

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

46
31

Havelock North
Havelock North

4 days
24 years

St. Luke's Church, Havelock North

8273

19 July 1920

Rev. Canon Lush

No	103
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Cropper	Elsie Gladys Smart
	💍 1920/8667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	46	31
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Havelock North
Folio	8273
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Lush

104

19 July 1920

Vivian Bluck
Jessie Florence Slynn

Vivian Bluck
Jessie Florence Slynn
💍 1920/8665

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

33
26

Hastings
Hastings

14 days
2 days (oversea)

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

8274

19 July 1920

Rev. R. T. Hall

No	104
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Bluck	Jessie Florence Slynn
	💍 1920/8665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 days	2 days (oversea)
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	8274
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall

105

20 July 1920

Alexander Leslie McCormick
Constance Elizabeth Michael

Alexander Leslie McCormick
Constance Elizabeth McMichael
💍 1920/8666

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

25
26

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Havelock North

8275

20 July 1920

Rev. R. Waugh

No	105
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Leslie McCormick	Constance Elizabeth Michael
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Leslie McCormick	Constance Elizabeth McMichael
	💍 1920/8666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Havelock North
Folio	8275
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh

106

21 July 1920

Reuben Jenner Horsefield
Helen Meyrick

Reuben Jenner Horsefield
Helen Meyrick
💍 1920/8443

Divorced decree absolute 3/9/19
Widow 6/2/15

Billiard Worker
Domestic duties

30
45

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
5 years

house of Mr. Meyrick, 412 Ellison Road, Hastings

8276

21 July 1920

Rev. Edridge

No	106
Date of Notice	21 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Jenner Horsefield	Helen Meyrick
	💍 1920/8443
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 3/9/19	Widow 6/2/15
Profession	Billiard Worker	Domestic duties
Age	30	45
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	house of Mr. Meyrick, 412 Ellison Road, Hastings
Folio	8276
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edridge

107

26 July 1920

John Ernest Betley
Amy Violet Shaw

John Ernest Betley
Amy Violet Shaw
💍 1920/8454

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Dressmaker

23
22

Hastings
Hastings

21 years
6 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

8277

26 July 1920

Rev. Hall

No	107
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Betley	Amy Violet Shaw
	💍 1920/8454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	21 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	8277
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hall

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).