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 1465

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

30 January 1920

Herbert Kelling
Ella May Russell

Herbert Kelling
Ella May Russell
💍 1920/4680

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
32

Napier
Napier

2 weeks
3 months

St. John's Cathedral Napier

1405

30 January 1920

Rev. Archdeacon Simkin, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Kelling	Ella May Russell
	💍 1920/4680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	1405
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Simkin, Church of England

30 January 1920

William Frank Ashley
Christiana Martin

William Frank Ashley
Christiana Martin
💍 1920/4681

Bachelor
Spinster

Concrete maker
Domestic Duties

23
24

Napier
Napier

12 months
6 months

Methodist Church Napier

1406

30 January 1920

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	32
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frank Ashley	Christiana Martin
	💍 1920/4681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Concrete maker	Domestic Duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Napier
Folio	1406
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

31 January 1920

Alan Hartley Gannaway
Clarice Moffitt

Alan Hartley Gannaway
Clarice Moffitt
💍 1920/4682

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Shop Assistant

21
21

Napier
Napier

21 years
7 months

Registrar's Office Napier

1407

31 January 1920

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Hartley Gannaway	Clarice Moffitt
	💍 1920/4682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	21 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	1407
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

31 January 1920

John Alfred Cross
Elizabeth Sarah Young

John Alfred Cross
Elizabeth Sarah Young
💍 1920/4659

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand
Domestic Duties

22
22

Tutira
Tutira

9 months
22 years

Residence of G. H. Young Tutira

1408

31 January 1920

Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Cross	Elizabeth Sarah Young
	💍 1920/4659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Tutira	Tutira
Length of Residence	9 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. H. Young Tutira
Folio	1408
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

2 February 1920

Ernest Mellett Barthew
Annie Susan Olsson

Ernest Millett Carthew
Annie Susan Olsson
💍 1920/8356

Bachelor
Married but husband not heard of for 11 1/2 years

Joiner
Clerk

39
29

Napier
Napier

11 years
10 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

Not solemnized see attached

2 February 1920

Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Mellett Barthew	Annie Susan Olsson
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Millett Carthew	Annie Susan Olsson
	💍 1920/8356
Condition	Bachelor	Married but husband not heard of for 11 1/2 years
Profession	Joiner	Clerk
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	Not solemnized see attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

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).