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 1677

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar H. H. Carr

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

19 July 1920

William John Pearse
Dora Cargill Joss

William John Pearse
Dora Cargill Joss
💍 1920/8640

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Teacher of Domestic Science

55
39

Feilding
Turakina

4 months
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Turakina

8597

19 July 1920

Rev. James Wilson, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Pearse	Dora Cargill Joss
	💍 1920/8640
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Teacher of Domestic Science
Age	55	39
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Turakina
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Turakina
Folio	8597
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Wilson, Presbyterian

20 July 1920

Keith Evelyn Little
Allison Esma Haybittle

Keith Melvyn Little
Alison Esma Haybittle
💍 1920/6164

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

26
27

Feilding
Feilding

4 days
27 years

Anglican Church, Feilding

8419

20 July 1920

Rev. Alan S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	49
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Evelyn Little	Allison Esma Haybittle
BDM Match (90%)	Keith Melvyn Little	Alison Esma Haybittle
	💍 1920/6164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	4 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Feilding
Folio	8419
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alan S. Innes Jones, Anglican

20 July 1920

Alfred Peter Jensen
Olive Jean Ross

Alfred Peter Jensen
Olive Jean Ross
💍 1920/6166

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
23

Feilding
Feilding

4 days
12 years

St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Feilding

8420

20 July 1920

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Peter Jensen	Olive Jean Ross
	💍 1920/6166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	8420
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

23 July 1920

Arthur Jaunard Lefren
Nora Blanche Waymouth

Arthur Jaumard Le Cren
Nora Blanche Waymouth
💍 1920/6167

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Home Duties

45
31

Feilding
Feilding

2 1/2 years
5 1/2 years

St Johns Anglican Church, Feilding

8421

23 July 1920

Rev. Alan S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	51
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Jaunard Lefren	Nora Blanche Waymouth
BDM Match (93%)	Arthur Jaumard Le Cren	Nora Blanche Waymouth
	💍 1920/6167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Home Duties
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	5 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Feilding
Folio	8421
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alan S. Innes Jones, Anglican

27 July 1920

Benjamin Marsden
Ellen Louisa Barnes

Benjamin Marsden
Ellen Louisa Barnes
💍 1920/6168

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

27
29

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
3 days

St Johns Anglican Church, Feilding

8422

27 July 1920

Rev. Alan S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	52
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Marsden	Ellen Louisa Barnes
	💍 1920/6168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Feilding
Folio	8422
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alan S. Innes Jones, 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).