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 1441

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar Robert 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

1 July 1920

Edward Bruin Knipe
Christina Alice Maddoy

Edward Bruin Knipe
Christina Alice Maddox
💍 1920/8654

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Laundress

24
22

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
3 years

Baptist Church Hastings

8263

1 July 1920

Rev. Pastor Edridge

No	93
Date of Notice	1 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bruin Knipe	Christina Alice Maddoy
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Bruin Knipe	Christina Alice Maddox
	💍 1920/8654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Laundress
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Hastings
Folio	8263
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Pastor Edridge

2 July 1920

Bernard Hordern Clifft
Jessie Vesty

Bernard Hordern Clifft
Jessie Vesty
💍 1920/8655

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Home duties

30
32

Havelock North
Havelock North

7 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church Hastings

8264

2 July 1920

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	94
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Hordern Clifft	Jessie Vesty
	💍 1920/8655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Home duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hastings
Folio	8264
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

6 July 1920

Sidney Stanley Smithers
Florence Gladys Hope

Sidney Stanley Smithers
Florence Gladys Hope
💍 1920/8656

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church Havelock North

8265

6 July 1920

Rev. R. Waugh

No	95
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Stanley Smithers	Florence Gladys Hope
	💍 1920/8656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Havelock North
Folio	8265
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh

7 July 1920

Walter Robinson
Lena Hawkins

Walter Robinson
Lena Hawkins
💍 1920/8657

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

38
34

Paki Paki
Paki Paki

38 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Hastings

8266

7 July 1920

Robert Braithwaite

No	96
Date of Notice	7 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robinson	Lena Hawkins
	💍 1920/8657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Paki Paki	Paki Paki
Length of Residence	38 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hastings
Folio	8266
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Robert Braithwaite

7 July 1920

Archer Robert Houston
Agnes McLean Earl

Arthur Robert Houston
Agnes McLean Earl
💍 1920/8658

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

33
32

Fernhill
Hastings

5 years
10 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Hastings

8267

7 July 1920

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	97
Date of Notice	7 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archer Robert Houston	Agnes McLean Earl
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Robert Houston	Agnes McLean Earl
	💍 1920/8658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Fernhill	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Hastings
Folio	8267
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

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).