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 1695

District of Greytown Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar W. J. Gibbs

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

14 January 1920

Stephen Robert Veitch
Aileen Elsie Kempton

Stephen Robert Veitch
Aileen Elsie Kempton
💍 1920/4738

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
School Teacher

23
22

Wanganui
Greytown

20 years
17 years

Methodist Church Greytown

1539

14 January 1920

Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	14 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Robert Veitch	Aileen Elsie Kempton
	💍 1920/4738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	School Teacher
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Greytown
Length of Residence	20 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Greytown
Folio	1539
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

21 January 1920

Heketa Manihera
Ruiha Rakai

Heketa Manihera
Ruiha Rakai
💍 1920/4739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

33
26

Greytown
Greytown

33 years
8 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greytown

1540

21 January 1920

The Registrar of Marriages Greytown

No	2
Date of Notice	21 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Heketa Manihera	Ruiha Rakai
	💍 1920/4739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	33 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greytown
Folio	1540
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1920
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages Greytown

30 January 1920

Victor Daniel Wisnesky
Flora Lindsay

Victor Daniel Wisnesky
Flora Lindsay
💍 1920/4740

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Spinster

28
28

Greytown
Greytown

3 days
5 years

St Luke's Church Greytown

1541

31 January 1920

Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Daniel Wisnesky	Flora Lindsay
	💍 1920/4740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Spinster
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Greytown
Folio	1541
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Church of England

20 February 1920

Charles Arthur Burling
Gladys Ethel Wood

Charles Arthur Burling
Gladys Ethel Wood
💍 1920/4741

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Pongaroa
Greytown

23 years
4 months

Anglican Church Greytown

1542

Frederick William Wood, Father

20 February 1920

Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	20 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Arthur Burling	Gladys Ethel Wood
	💍 1920/4741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Pongaroa	Greytown
Length of Residence	23 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Greytown
Folio	1542
Consent	Frederick William Wood, Father
Date of Certificate	20 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Church of England

11 March 1920

Arthur Thomas Munn
Lillie May Westerby

Arthur Thomas Munn
Lillie May Westerby
💍 1920/4742

Divorced (Decree absolute 8-3-20)
Widow (31-8-18)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
33

Greytown
Greytown

8 months
4 days

Residence of Arthur Thomas Munn Greytown

1543

11 March 1920

Rev. W. Grundy, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	11 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Munn	Lillie May Westerby
	💍 1920/4742
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 8-3-20)	Widow (31-8-18)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	8 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Arthur Thomas Munn Greytown
Folio	1543
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Grundy, 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).