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 1729

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar W. 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

21 October 1920

George Henry Bird
Ellen Galloway

George Henry Bird
Ellen Galloway
💍 1920/11966

Bachelor
Widow (2 December 1918)

Mechanic
Household duties

41
39

Levin
Levin

28 years
9 years (Manakau)

Anglican Church

11322

21 October 1920

Rev. R. G. Petrie, Levin, Anglican Church

No	35
Date of Notice	21 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Bird	Ellen Galloway
	💍 1920/11966
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (2 December 1918)
Profession	Mechanic	Household duties
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	28 years	9 years (Manakau)
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	11322
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Petrie, Levin, Anglican Church

23 October 1920

George Vernon Hight
Elizabeth Mary Clements

George Vernon Hight
Elizabeth Mary Clements
💍 1920/11967

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
31

Levin
Levin

3 days
2 months

Residence J. Clements, Levin

11323

23 October 1920

Rev. B. Harris, Levin

No	36
Date of Notice	23 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Vernon Hight	Elizabeth Mary Clements
	💍 1920/11967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence J. Clements, Levin
Folio	11323
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Harris, Levin

30 October 1920

Cecil Vaughan Lingard
Isabel Holmwood Shand

Cecil Vaughan Lingard
Isabel Holmwood Shand
💍 1920/12107

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

26
22

Levin
Feilding

1 year
8 years (Kiwitea)

Church of England, Kiwitea

11293

30 October 1920

Rev. J. Y. Mayo, Hunterville, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	30 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Vaughan Lingard	Isabel Holmwood Shand
	💍 1920/12107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Feilding
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years (Kiwitea)
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kiwitea
Folio	11293
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Y. Mayo, Hunterville, Church of England

13 November 1920

James Gray Horn
Ewylfa Helen Annie Taylor

James Gray Horn
Gwylfa Helen Annie Taylor
💍 1920/49

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
19

Ohau
Levin

12 years
12 years

Residence of Rev. B. Harris

11324

John Henry Taylor, Father

13 November 1920

Rev. B. Harris, Church

No	38
Date of Notice	13 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gray Horn	Ewylfa Helen Annie Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	James Gray Horn	Gwylfa Helen Annie Taylor
	💍 1920/49
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ohau	Levin
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. B. Harris
Folio	11324
Consent	John Henry Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	13 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Harris, Church

22 November 1920

Aden Patrick Doyle
Lilian Jane Ward

Aiden Patrick Doyle
Lilian Jane Ward
💍 1920/11977

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
22

Levin
Levin

26 years
22 years

St Andrew's Church, Feilding

11325

22 November 1920

Rev. M. Fitzgibbon, Levin

No	39
Date of Notice	22 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aden Patrick Doyle	Lilian Jane Ward
BDM Match (97%)	Aiden Patrick Doyle	Lilian Jane Ward
	💍 1920/11977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church, Feilding
Folio	11325
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Fitzgibbon, Levin

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).