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 1629

District of Carterton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. Huston

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

6 January 1920

John Moore
Mary Alice Dodd Broome

John Moore
Mary Alice Dodd Broome
💍 1920/3350

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
23

Masterton
Waingawa

4 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church Masterton

1567

6 January 1920

L. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Moore	Mary Alice Dodd Broome
	💍 1920/3350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Waingawa
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Masterton
Folio	1567
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	L. Thompson, Presbyterian

20 January 1920

Ernest Phelps
Edith Victorine Bambry

Ernest Phelps
Edith Victorine Bambry
💍 1920/4875

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic duties

33
20

Carterton
Carterton

33 years
15 years

Methodist Church Carterton

1498

John Bambry, Father

20 January 1920

Josiah Ward, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	20 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Phelps	Edith Victorine Bambry
	💍 1920/4875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	33 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Carterton
Folio	1498
Consent	John Bambry, Father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Josiah Ward, Methodist

23 January 1920

John Head
Ivy Lilian Lloyd

John Head
Ivy Lillian Lloyd
💍 1920/2023

Bachelor
Widow 17/12/1918

Labourer
Domestic

33
31

Te Wharau
Te Wharau

2 years
2 years

Church of England Carterton

1499

23 January 1920

R. Young, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Head	Ivy Lilian Lloyd
BDM Match (97%)	John Head	Ivy Lillian Lloyd
	💍 1920/2023
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 17/12/1918
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Te Wharau	Te Wharau
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Carterton
Folio	1499
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Young, Anglican

24 February 1920

Edward Francis Atkins
Margaret Rose Evelyn Gallon

Edward Francis Atkins
Margaret Rose Evelyn Gallon
💍 1920/2024

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
37

Carterton
Carterton

10 days

Residence of J. Gallon Matarawa

1500

24 February 1920

E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Francis Atkins	Margaret Rose Evelyn Gallon
	💍 1920/2024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	37
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Gallon Matarawa
Folio	1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

24 February 1920

William Evenson Rayner
Mary Gillespie

William Evinson Rayner
Mary Gillespie
💍 1920/4771

Widower 26/11/1918
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

52
47

Carterton
Masterton

52 years
46 years

No. 8 Chapel St. Masterton

1596

24 February 1920

G. Murray

No	5
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Evenson Rayner	Mary Gillespie
BDM Match (98%)	William Evinson Rayner	Mary Gillespie
	💍 1920/4771
Condition	Widower 26/11/1918	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	52	47
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	52 years	46 years
Marriage Place	No. 8 Chapel St. Masterton
Folio	1596
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	G. Murray

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).