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 1467

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

11 February 1920

Albert Edward Denholm
Ethel Valentine Wilson

Albert Edward Denholm
Ethel Valentine Wilson
💍 1920/4665

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

34
23

Napier
Napier

34 years
23 years

Residence of T. Barry Sea Point Road Napier

1414

11 February 1920

Rev. J. Hay Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Denholm	Ethel Valentine Wilson
	💍 1920/4665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	34 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of T. Barry Sea Point Road Napier
Folio	1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay Presbyterian

11 February 1920

Robert Edwin Kibblewhite
Sarah Jane Bullick

Robert Edwin Kibblewhite
Sarah Jane Bullick
💍 1920/4666

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Servant

21
21

Napier
Napier

13 months
6 years

Residence of John Savage Thackeray Street Napier

1415

11 February 1920

Rev. J. K. Richards Methodist

No	42
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edwin Kibblewhite	Sarah Jane Bullick
	💍 1920/4666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Servant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	13 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Savage Thackeray Street Napier
Folio	1415
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Richards Methodist

13 February 1920

Randal Dudley Kettle
Ngaire Riddiford

Randal Dudley Kettle
Ngaire Riddiford
💍 1920/4342

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

32
25

Napier
Wellington

32 years
18 years

Anglican Church Lower Hutt

717

13 February 1920

Rev. A. L. Hansell Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	13 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randal Dudley Kettle	Ngaire Riddiford
	💍 1920/4342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	32 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Lower Hutt
Folio	717
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell Church of England

14 February 1920

Norman Henry Mackie
Vera Constance Cato

Norman Henry Mackie
Vera Constance Cato
💍 1920/4667

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Valuer
Domestic Duties

32
24

Palmerston North
Napier

5 months
20 years

St. John's Cathedral Napier

1416

14 February 1920

Rev. Archdeacon Simkin Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	14 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Henry Mackie	Vera Constance Cato
	💍 1920/4667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Valuer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Napier
Length of Residence	5 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	1416
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Simkin Church of England

14 February 1920

Edward Charles Smith
Evelyn Gertrude Muhleisen

Edward Charles Smith
Evelyn Gertrude Muhliesen
💍 1920/4668

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

25
21

Napier
Greenmeadows

2 years
21 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

1417

14 February 1920

Rev. Father Tymons Roman Catholic

No	45
Date of Notice	14 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Smith	Evelyn Gertrude Muhleisen
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Charles Smith	Evelyn Gertrude Muhliesen
	💍 1920/4668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	1417
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 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).