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 1611

District of Ashhurst Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar Howard Vincent

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 October 1920

Arthur Lee Porter
Clare Baldwin

Arthur Lee Porter
Clare Caldwell
💍 1920/12037

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
27

Komako
Awahou North

9 months
15 years

St. Aidan's Church, Awahou North

11266

11 October 1920

Rev. T. H. Kempthorne, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	11 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lee Porter	Clare Baldwin
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Lee Porter	Clare Caldwell
	💍 1920/12037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Komako	Awahou North
Length of Residence	9 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Aidan's Church, Awahou North
Folio	11266
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Kempthorne, Church of England

18 October 1920

Cecil Meares Payne
Ina Merle Print

Cecil Meares Payne
Ina Merle Print
💍 1920/12038

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Masters Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
22

Bunnythorpe
Bunnythorpe

4 days
22 years

Methodist Church Bunnythorpe

11267

18 October 1920

Rev. Arthur Ashcroft, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	18 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Meares Payne	Ina Merle Print
	💍 1920/12038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Masters Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Bunnythorpe
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Bunnythorpe
Folio	11267
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Ashcroft, Methodist

30 October 1920

Albert Edwin Sanders
Lizzie Beatrice Cheyne

Albert Edwin Sanders
Lizzie Beatrice Cheyne
💍 1920/12039

Widower 29th November 1918
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

42
18

Ashhurst
Ashhurst

40 years
1 year

Registrar's Office at Ashhurst

11268

John Cheyne, Father

30 October 1920

Howard Vincent, Registrar of Marriages

No	18
Date of Notice	30 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edwin Sanders	Lizzie Beatrice Cheyne
	💍 1920/12039
Condition	Widower 29th November 1918	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	42	18
Dwelling Place	Ashhurst	Ashhurst
Length of Residence	40 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Ashhurst
Folio	11268
Consent	John Cheyne, Father
Date of Certificate	30 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Howard Vincent, Registrar of Marriages

3 December 1920

John Madsen
Janet Craig Templeton

John Madsen
Janet Craig Templeton
💍 1920/12040

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
31

Ashhurst
Ashhurst

4 days
2 weeks

Methodist Church at Ashhurst

11269

3 December 1920

Rev. W. Gatman, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	3 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Madsen	Janet Craig Templeton
	💍 1920/12040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Ashhurst	Ashhurst
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Ashhurst
Folio	11269
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gatman, Methodist

24 December 1920

Robert Hugh Oakley Caldwell
Margaret Eunice Fitz-Herbert

Robert Hugh Oakley Caldwell
Margaret Eunice Fitz-Herbert
💍 1920/12041

Widower 29th August 1916
Spinster

Cashier (Merchant's)
Karitane Nurse

33
27

Awahou
Awahou

3 days
6 weeks

St. Aidan's Church Awahou

11270

24 December 1920

Rev. A. W. Monaghan, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	24 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hugh Oakley Caldwell	Margaret Eunice Fitz-Herbert
	💍 1920/12041
Condition	Widower 29th August 1916	Spinster
Profession	Cashier (Merchant's)	Karitane Nurse
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Awahou	Awahou
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Aidan's Church Awahou
Folio	11270
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Monaghan, Anglican

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).