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 1481

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

106

1 June 1920

William Howard Johnson
Vera Septima Humphries

William Howard Johnson
Vera Septima Humphries
💍 1920/1522

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Expert
Household Duties

27
28

Napier
Napier

4 days
28 years

St. Johns Cathedral Napier

5324

1 June 1920

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	106
Date of Notice	1 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Howard Johnson	Vera Septima Humphries
	💍 1920/1522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Expert	Household Duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral Napier
Folio	5324
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

107

1 June 1920

Edward James Clune
Mary Ellen Coe

Edward James Clune
Mary Ellen Coe
💍 1920/1523

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Music Teacher

33
33

Napier
Napier

2 years
33 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

5325

1 June 1920

Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	107
Date of Notice	1 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Clune	Mary Ellen Coe
	💍 1920/1523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Music Teacher
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	5325
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

108

2 June 1920

Arthur Samuel Carr
Minnie Constance Nicol

Arthur Samuel Carr
Minnie Constance Nicol
💍 1920/1524

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Household Duties

38
26

Napier
Taradale

3 days
26 years

Residence of Mrs. Nicol Taradale

5326

2 June 1920

Rev. A. H. Norrie, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	2 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Samuel Carr	Minnie Constance Nicol
	💍 1920/1524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Household Duties
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Taradale
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Nicol Taradale
Folio	5326
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Norrie, Presbyterian

109

2 June 1920

John William Victor Masterman
Lilian Maude Glazebrook

John William Victor Masterman
Lilian Maude Glazebrock
💍 1920/1532

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

32
25

Hastings
Clive

2 years
25 years

Church of England Clive

5327

2 June 1920

Rev. Canon Lush, Church of England

No	109
Date of Notice	2 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Victor Masterman	Lilian Maude Glazebrook
BDM Match (98%)	John William Victor Masterman	Lilian Maude Glazebrock
	💍 1920/1532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Clive
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Clive
Folio	5327
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Lush, Church of England

110

7 June 1920

Henry Swain
Jane Melville Power

Henry Swain
Jane Melville Power
💍 1920/1543

Divorced 27 May 1919
Widow 22 Nov 1918

Builder
Household Duties

49
48

Napier
Napier

3 days
7 years

Residence of G. Little Dickens Street Napier

5328

7 June 1920

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	110
Date of Notice	7 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Swain	Jane Melville Power
	💍 1920/1543
Condition	Divorced 27 May 1919	Widow 22 Nov 1918
Profession	Builder	Household Duties
Age	49	48
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Little Dickens Street Napier
Folio	5328
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

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).