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 1725

District of Levin Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar Geo. Percy

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

6 July 1920

Henry John Simmons
Agnes Don St. Clair Smith

Henry John Simmonds
Agnes Ison St Clair Smith
💍 1920/12451

Widower 10 August 1916
Widow 2 April 1907

Cordial maker
Housekeeper

42
42

Cornwall Street, Miramar
Devon Street, Levin

5 years
3 days

Residence of Mr J. E. Dean, Devon Street, Levin

8441

6 July 1920

Rev. George Frost, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Simmons	Agnes Don St. Clair Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Henry John Simmonds	Agnes Ison St Clair Smith
	💍 1920/12451
Condition	Widower 10 August 1916	Widow 2 April 1907
Profession	Cordial maker	Housekeeper
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Cornwall Street, Miramar	Devon Street, Levin
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. E. Dean, Devon Street, Levin
Folio	8441
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Frost, Methodist

16 July 1920

Fritz Krull
Dorothy Edith Varnham

Fritz Krull
Dorothy Edith Varnham
💍 1920/8566

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House Duties

46
25

Levin
Levin

7 days
6 months

Church of England, Levin

8442

16 July 1920

W. F. Groves, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fritz Krull	Dorothy Edith Varnham
	💍 1920/8566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House Duties
Age	46	25
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	7 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Levin
Folio	8442
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	W. F. Groves, Church of England

16 July 1920

Edward Allmand
Gladys May Hughes

Edward Allmand
Gladys May Hughes
💍 1920/8567

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Home Duties

36
23

Weraroa
Weraroa

7 years
7 years

Church of England, Levin

8443

16 July 1920

W. F. Groves, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Allmand	Gladys May Hughes
	💍 1920/8567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Home Duties
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Weraroa	Weraroa
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Levin
Folio	8443
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	W. F. Groves, Church of England

16 July 1920

John Tuohy
Rose Ethel Astridge

John Tuohy
Rose Ethel Astridge
💍 1920/8568

Bachelor
Widow 12 September 1911

Labourer
Tailoress

34
32

Levin
Levin

23 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church, Levin

8444

16 July 1920

Rev. J. Fitzgibbon, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Tuohy	Rose Ethel Astridge
	💍 1920/8568
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 12 September 1911
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Levin
Folio	8444
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Fitzgibbon, Roman Catholic

5 August 1920

Gordon Robert Mickell
Agnes Simpson Adamson

Gordon Robert Mickell
Agnes Simpson Adamson
💍 1920/12454

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Cook

33
28

Levin
Levin

3 days
15 days

Presbyterian Church, Levin

8445

5 August 1920

Rev. Bawden Harris, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	5 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Robert Mickell	Agnes Simpson Adamson
	💍 1920/12454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Cook
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 days	15 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Levin
Folio	8445
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Bawden Harris, 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).