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 1473

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

27 March 1920

Angus Matheson
Mabel Elizabeth Simms

Angus Matheson
Mabel Elizabeth Simms
💍 1920/4720

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer
Domestic

39
34

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

1 week
1 week

Church of England Taradale

1443

27 March 1920

Rev. A. P. Clarke Church of England

No	71
Date of Notice	27 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Matheson	Mabel Elizabeth Simms
	💍 1920/4720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	Domestic
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Church of England Taradale
Folio	1443
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke Church of England

29 March 1920

Edward Hugh Deery
Esmeralda Elizabeth Watson

Edward Hugh Deery
Esmeralda Elizabeth Watson
💍 1920/4721

Bachelor
Spinster

Felt grader
Household Duties

26
23

Napier
Napier

4 days
5 days

St John's Cathedral Napier

1444

29 March 1920

Rev. Dean Mayne Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	29 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Hugh Deery	Esmeralda Elizabeth Watson
	💍 1920/4721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Felt grader	Household Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	1444
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne Church of England

30 March 1920

Christopher Thomas James Beechey
Janet Marcroft

Christopher Thomas James Beechey
Janet Marcroft
💍 1920/4722

Bachelor
Widow 29th October 1914

Labourer
Household Duties

47
47

Napier
Port Ahuriri

45 years
7 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

1445

30 March 1920

Rev. C. D. Rice Church of England

No	73
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Thomas James Beechey	Janet Marcroft
	💍 1920/4722
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 29th October 1914
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	47	47
Dwelling Place	Napier	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	45 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	1445
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. D. Rice Church of England

31 March 1920

Stewart Nesbit
Norah Tuohy

Stewart Nesbit
Norah Tuohy
💍 1920/4723

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Teacher

28
29

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

3 days
3 days

150 Waghorne Street Port Ahuriri

1446

31 March 1920

Rev. J. Hay Presbyterian

No	74
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Nesbit	Norah Tuohy
	💍 1920/4723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Teacher
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	150 Waghorne Street Port Ahuriri
Folio	1446
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay Presbyterian

31 March 1920

Jack Murphy
Elsie Muriel Harris

Jack Murphy
Elsie Muriel Harris
💍 1920/4724

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Accountant

27
24

Napier
Napier

8 weeks
1 week

St Paul's Church Napier

1447

31 March 1920

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Murphy	Elsie Muriel Harris
	💍 1920/4724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Accountant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Napier
Folio	1447
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

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).