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 1569

District of Wairoa Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar A. C. W. Murdoch

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

7 January 1920

Joseph Smith
Hini Tekauru

Joseph Smith
Heni Te Kauru
💍 1920/4876

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
17

Nuhaka
Nuhaka

23 years
17 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wairoa

1476

Hohepa Tekauru

7 January 1920

J. P. Crichton, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Smith	Hini Tekauru
BDM Match (88%)	Joseph Smith	Heni Te Kauru
	💍 1920/4876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Nuhaka
Length of Residence	23 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wairoa
Folio	1476
Consent	Hohepa Tekauru
Date of Certificate	7 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J. P. Crichton, Registrar

16 January 1920

William Angus Mackenzie
Catherine Bee

William Angus Mackenzie
Katherine Bee
💍 1920/4877

Widower 23-11-15
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

51
38

Wairoa
Wairoa

3 years
38 years

Residence of John Gemmell, Wairoa

1477

16 January 1920

J.P. Crichton & George Nelham Watson, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Angus Mackenzie	Catherine Bee
BDM Match (96%)	William Angus Mackenzie	Katherine Bee
	💍 1920/4877
Condition	Widower 23-11-15	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	51	38
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	3 years	38 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Gemmell, Wairoa
Folio	1477
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J.P. Crichton & George Nelham Watson, Church of England

24 January 1920

Hoani Mete
Mary Cookson

Hoani Mete
Mary Cookson
💍 1920/4878

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

31
21

Nuhaka
Nuhaka

31 years
8 Months

Office of the Registrar of marriage Wairoa

1478

24 January 1920

A. C. W. Murdoch, Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hoani Mete	Mary Cookson
	💍 1920/4878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Nuhaka
Length of Residence	31 years	8 Months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of marriage Wairoa
Folio	1478
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1920
Officiating Minister	A. C. W. Murdoch, Deputy Registrar

2 February 1920

Edgar Leonard Phillips
Linda Isabel Beckett

Edgar Leonard Phillips
Linda Isabel Beckett
💍 1920/4879

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
domestic duties

27
23

Frasertown, Wairoa
Frasertown, Wairoa

27 years
23 years

Church of England at Frasertown

1479

2 February 1920

Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Leonard Phillips	Linda Isabel Beckett
	💍 1920/4879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Frasertown, Wairoa	Frasertown, Wairoa
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Frasertown
Folio	1479
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

17 February 1920

Joseph Henry Shortt
Hilda Myrtle Sheppard

Joseph Henry Shortt
Hilda Myrtle Sheppard
💍 1920/4880

Bachelor
Spinster

shepherd
domestic duties

28
28

Wairoa
Wairoa

6 years
7 months

Church of England, Wairoa

1480

17 February 1920

Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	17 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Shortt	Hilda Myrtle Sheppard
	💍 1920/4880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	shepherd	domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	6 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wairoa
Folio	1480
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

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).