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 1751

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. Miller

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

27 January 1920

William Carroll
Stella Laudy

William Carroll
Stella Landy
💍 1920/4769

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Housemaid

28
23

Masterton
Masterton

1 year
4 years

St Patrick's Church at Masterton

1577

27 January 1920

Monsignor J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Carroll	Stella Laudy
BDM Match (96%)	William Carroll	Stella Landy
	💍 1920/4769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Housemaid
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church at Masterton
Folio	1577
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Monsignor J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

27 January 1920

John Wood
Nora Florence Franklin

John Wood
Nora Florence Franklin
💍 1920/4776

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Home Duties

23
19

Kopuaranga
Kopuaranga

3 days
Lifetime

Presbyterian Church at Kopuaranga

1578

Agnes Marie Franklin, Mother

27 January 1920

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wood	Nora Florence Franklin
	💍 1920/4776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Home Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Kopuaranga	Kopuaranga
Length of Residence	3 days	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Kopuaranga
Folio	1578
Consent	Agnes Marie Franklin, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

27 January 1920

Walter Davies
Gladys Mary Church

Walter Davies
Gladys Mary Church
💍 1920/4777

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Home Duties

28
26

Masterton
Masterton

2 years
Lifetime

Residence of Robert Bradfield Church at 99 Bannister Street, Masterton

1579

27 January 1920

Rev. James Cocker, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Davies	Gladys Mary Church
	💍 1920/4777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Home Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 years	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Bradfield Church at 99 Bannister Street, Masterton
Folio	1579
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Cocker, Methodist

28 January 1920

Rupert Vallance Doughty
Ellen Amelia Valois

Rupert Vallance Doughty
Ellen Amelia Valois
💍 1920/4778

Widower (9/4/1904)
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

36
37

Masterton
Masterton

26 years
6 years

Registrar's Office at Masterton

1580

28 January 1920

Stephen Cumming, Deputy Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Vallance Doughty	Ellen Amelia Valois
	💍 1920/4778
Condition	Widower (9/4/1904)	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Masterton
Folio	1580
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Stephen Cumming, Deputy Registrar

28 January 1920

William John Mother
Eunice Alice Maud Wrigley

William John McPhee
Eunice Alice Maud Wrigley
💍 1920/4779

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

40
22

Mihi Mihi, Masterton
Rangitumau

20 years
Lifetime

Residence of Mrs Catherine Wrigley at Rangitumau

1581

28 January 1920

Rev. George T. Brown MA, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Mother	Eunice Alice Maud Wrigley
BDM Match (92%)	William John McPhee	Eunice Alice Maud Wrigley
	💍 1920/4779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Mihi Mihi, Masterton	Rangitumau
Length of Residence	20 years	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Catherine Wrigley at Rangitumau
Folio	1581
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. George T. Brown MA, 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).