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 1685

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar A. Hawke

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

8 January 1920

John Thomas Tomlin
Caroline Annie Andrew

John Thomas Tomlin
Caroline Annie Andrew
💍 1920/4734

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

31
21

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
4 years

Registrars office Foxton

1535

8 January 1920

Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Tomlin	Caroline Annie Andrew
	💍 1920/4734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office Foxton
Folio	1535
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

27 January 1920

James Edward Boag
Amy Francis Podmore

James Edward Boag
Amy Frances Podmore
💍 1920/4735

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter Railways
Tailoress

27
25

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
16 years

Methodist Church Foxton

1536

27 January 1920

Rev A. Harding

No	2
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Boag	Amy Francis Podmore
BDM Match (97%)	James Edward Boag	Amy Frances Podmore
	💍 1920/4735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter Railways	Tailoress
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Foxton
Folio	1536
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Harding

1 March 1920

Herbert Edward Baughen
Beryl Viola Fraser

Herbert Edward Baughen
Beryl Viola Fraser
💍 1920/4736

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

30
27

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
27 years

All Saints Anglican church Foxton

1537

1 March 1920

Rev W Raine

No	3
Date of Notice	1 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Baughen	Beryl Viola Fraser
	💍 1920/4736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican church Foxton
Folio	1537
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W Raine

3 March 1920

Frank Henry Mills
Effie Muriel Scadden

Frank Henry Mills
Effie Muriel Scadden
💍 1920/4737

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
20

Rangiotu
Foxton

16 years
5 years

Methodist Church Foxton

1538

George William Scadden - Father

3 March 1920

Rev A. Harding

No	4
Date of Notice	3 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Henry Mills	Effie Muriel Scadden
	💍 1920/4737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Rangiotu	Foxton
Length of Residence	16 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Foxton
Folio	1538
Consent	George William Scadden - Father
Date of Certificate	3 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Harding

30 March 1920

Joseph Hugh Entwistle
Grace Evaline Lovejoy

Joseph Hugh Entwistle
Grace Evalina Lovejoy
💍 1920/4821

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
25

Foxton
Palmerston North

15 months
3 months

Registrars office Palmerston North

1696

30 March 1920

Registrar Palmerston North

No	5
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hugh Entwistle	Grace Evaline Lovejoy
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Hugh Entwistle	Grace Evalina Lovejoy
	💍 1920/4821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrars office Palmerston North
Folio	1696
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar Palmerston North

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).