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 1657

District of Featherston Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar H. Dixon

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

13 January 1920

Ralph Edwin Logan McClure
Muriel Helen Fenwick

Ralph Edwin Logan McClure
Muriel Helen Fenwick
💍 1920/5005

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
23

Featherston
Featherston

4 days
23 years

Church of England Featherston

1508

13 January 1920

J. G. S. Bartlett, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	13 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Edwin Logan McClure	Muriel Helen Fenwick
	💍 1920/5005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Featherston
Folio	1508
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J. G. S. Bartlett, Church of England

16 January 1920

Ebenezer Drysdale
Myrtle Annie Rosetta May

Ebenezer Drysdale
Myrtle Annie Rosetta Udy
💍 1920/5006

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
27

Featherston
Featherston

2 months
5 months

Registrars office Featherston

1509

16 January 1920

H. Dixon, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ebenezer Drysdale	Myrtle Annie Rosetta May
BDM Match (96%)	Ebenezer Drysdale	Myrtle Annie Rosetta Udy
	💍 1920/5006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	2 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrars office Featherston
Folio	1509
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1920
Officiating Minister	H. Dixon, Registrar

8 March 1920

John Malcolm McLean
Joy Eleanor Tait

John Malcolm McLean
Ivy Eleanor Tait
💍 1920/4983

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

34
27

Featherston
Featherston

5 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church Featherston

1510

8 March 1920

Rev R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	8 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Malcolm McLean	Joy Eleanor Tait
BDM Match (94%)	John Malcolm McLean	Ivy Eleanor Tait
	💍 1920/4983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Featherston
Folio	1510
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

22 March 1920

William Sampson Valentine
Gladys Daphne Pickin

William Sampson Valentine
Gladys Daphne Pickin
💍 1920/4984

Divorced 31 January 1920
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

27
22

Featherston
Featherston

10 months
3 years

Presbyterian Manse Featherston

1511

22 March 1920

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	22 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sampson Valentine	Gladys Daphne Pickin
	💍 1920/4984
Condition	Divorced 31 January 1920	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	10 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Featherston
Folio	1511
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

31 March 1920

William Henderson
Elizabeth Ann McAuliffe

William Henderson
Elizabeth Annie McAuliffe
💍 1920/4985

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

38
30

Featherston
Featherston

2 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church Featherston

1512

31 March 1920

Rev R H Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henderson	Elizabeth Ann McAuliffe
BDM Match (96%)	William Henderson	Elizabeth Annie McAuliffe
	💍 1920/4985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Featherston
Folio	1512
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev R H Catherwood, Presbyterian

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).