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 1667

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. B. Sandford

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 February 1920

Howard Gilmore
Winifred Strangward Nicolls

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Clerk

27
23

Feilding
Feilding

40 days
23 years

St John's Church, Feilding

1522

13 February 1920

Rev A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	13 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Gilmore	Winifred Strangward Nicolls
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	40 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Feilding
Folio	1522
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

14 February 1920

Alfred Dawson
Myrtle Ivy Bunn

Alfred Dawson
Myrtle Joy Bunn
💍 1920/4997

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic duties

29
24

Bunnythorpe
Palmerston North

3 Days
16 years

St John's Church, Feilding

1523

14 February 1920

Rev A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	14 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Dawson	Myrtle Ivy Bunn
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Dawson	Myrtle Joy Bunn
	💍 1920/4997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 Days	16 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Feilding
Folio	1523
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

25 February 1920

William Henry Larsen
Ivy Mary Thew

William Henry Larsen
Ivy May Thew
💍 1920/4998

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 16th January 1920)

Labourer
Tailoress

28
27

Feilding
Feilding

1 year
1 year

St Pauls Manse, Feilding

1524

25 February 1920

Rev J. Miller, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	25 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Larsen	Ivy Mary Thew
BDM Match (96%)	William Henry Larsen	Ivy May Thew
	💍 1920/4998
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 16th January 1920)
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St Pauls Manse, Feilding
Folio	1524
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Miller, Presbyterian

27 February 1920

Cyril Thomas Tansley
Muriel Clarice Boyce

Cyril Thomas Hansby
Muriel Clarice Boyce
💍 1920/4999

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Shop Assistant

23
19

Feilding
Feilding

3 months
3 Months

Catholic Church, Feilding

1525

John Boyce, Father

27 February 1920

Rev E. J. Bergen, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Thomas Tansley	Muriel Clarice Boyce
BDM Match (93%)	Cyril Thomas Hansby	Muriel Clarice Boyce
	💍 1920/4999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Shop Assistant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 months	3 Months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Feilding
Folio	1525
Consent	John Boyce, Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev E. J. Bergen, Roman Catholic

28 February 1920

Percival Robert Mitchell
Mary McNeil Prentice

Percival Robert Mitchell
Mary McNeil Prentice
💍 1920/4733

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House Keeper

22
26

Kiwitea
Kiwitea

3 Weeks
4 Years

Presbyterian Church, Feilding

1526

28 February 1920

Rev J Miller, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	28 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Robert Mitchell	Mary McNeil Prentice
	💍 1920/4733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House Keeper
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Kiwitea	Kiwitea
Length of Residence	3 Weeks	4 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	1526
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J Miller, 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).