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 1575

District of Wairoa Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar G. P. Crichton

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

20 July 1920

Allan Fraser Kerr
Jane Sinton

Allan Fraser Kerr
Jane Sinton
💍 1920/8523

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
28

Tiniroto
Tiniroto

2 years
26 years

Residence of Robert Sinton, Tiniroto

8372

20 July 1920

Rev. Percy Keane, Presbyterian, Frasertown

No	16
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Fraser Kerr	Jane Sinton
	💍 1920/8523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Tiniroto	Tiniroto
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Sinton, Tiniroto
Folio	8372
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Percy Keane, Presbyterian, Frasertown

31 July 1920

Keith John Shaw
Elvey Oldham

Keith John Shaw
Elvey Oldham
💍 1920/12296

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shorthand Typiste

24
22

Marumaru
Frasertown

24 years
22 years

Residence of Edward Daniel Oldham, Frasertown

8373

31 July 1920

Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	31 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith John Shaw	Elvey Oldham
	💍 1920/12296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shorthand Typiste
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Marumaru	Frasertown
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward Daniel Oldham, Frasertown
Folio	8373
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

16 August 1920

Jack Bertram Tucker
Victoria Minnie Pratley

Jack Bertram Tucker
Victoria Minnie Pratley
💍 1920/8524

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

23
23

Frasertown
Frasertown

3 years
3 years

Church of England, Wairoa

8374

16 August 1920

Rev. George Nelham-Watson, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	16 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Bertram Tucker	Victoria Minnie Pratley
	💍 1920/8524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Frasertown	Frasertown
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wairoa
Folio	8374
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Nelham-Watson, Church of England

30 August 1920

Thomas Roi Aldridge
Dorothy Emma Clark

Thomas Roi Aldridge
Dorothy Emma Clark
💍 1920/8525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Housekeeper

23
22

Turiroa
Wairoa

5 years
11 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Wairoa

8375

1 September 1920

Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	30 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Roi Aldridge	Dorothy Emma Clark
	💍 1920/8525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Turiroa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Wairoa
Folio	8375
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

5 September 1920

Karena Rawhi
Maraea Waaka

Karena Rawhi
Maraea Waaka
💍 1920/8534

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

77
60

Whakaki
Whakaki

77 years
60 years

Office of the Registrar, Wairoa

8376

8 September 1920

G. P. Crichton, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	5 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karena Rawhi	Maraea Waaka
	💍 1920/8534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	77	60
Dwelling Place	Whakaki	Whakaki
Length of Residence	77 years	60 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Wairoa
Folio	8376
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1920
Officiating Minister	G. P. Crichton, Registrar

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).