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 1755

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar 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

3 March 1920

Stanley Paul Buchill
Nilla Doris Clara Hyde

Stanley Paul Buckrell
Nilla Doris Clara Hyde
💍 1920/4772

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

31
25

Masterton
Masterton

4 days
20 years at Masterton

St Matthew's Church of England, Masterton

1597

3 March 1920

Rev. John Walker, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	3 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Paul Buchill	Nilla Doris Clara Hyde
BDM Match (93%)	Stanley Paul Buckrell	Nilla Doris Clara Hyde
	💍 1920/4772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years at Masterton
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church of England, Masterton
Folio	1597
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England

4 March 1920

Daniel Davey
Annie Elliot Farsman

Daniel Davey
Annie Elliott Hausman
💍 1920/4773

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator
Household Duties

21
21

Masterton
Masterton

21 years
21 years

Knox Manse at Masterton

1598

4 March 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	4 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Davey	Annie Elliot Farsman
BDM Match (93%)	Daniel Davey	Annie Elliott Hausman
	💍 1920/4773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator	Household Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Knox Manse at Masterton
Folio	1598
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

4 March 1920

Robert Emerson
Dorothea Esther Robina Hills

Robert Emerson
Dorothea Esther Robena Hills
💍 1920/4774

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Tailoress

23
23

Masterton
Masterton

10 years
10 years

Methodist Church at Masterton

1599

4 March 1920

Rev. J. Ward, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	4 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Emerson	Dorothea Esther Robina Hills
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Emerson	Dorothea Esther Robena Hills
	💍 1920/4774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Tailoress
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Masterton
Folio	1599
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ward, Methodist

10 March 1920

William Vincent Buick
Maggie Compton McPhee

William Vincent Buick
Maggie Compton McPhee
💍 1920/4982

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
21

Opaki Masterton
Carterton

23 years

St Andrew's Church at Carterton

1501

10 March 1920

Rev. E. G. Tipler, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Vincent Buick	Maggie Compton McPhee
	💍 1920/4982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Opaki Masterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	23 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church at Carterton
Folio	1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Tipler, Presbyterian

12 March 1920

Leonard Edwin Corlett
Lily Cain

Leonard Edwin Corlett
Lily Cain
💍 1920/4775

Bachelor
Widow (30.8.1917)

Motorman
Domestic Duties

23
23

Masterton
Masterton

16 years
20 years Masterton

Residence of Mrs N Pauling at 70 Lincoln Road Masterton

1600

12 March 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Edwin Corlett	Lily Cain
	💍 1920/4775
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (30.8.1917)
Profession	Motorman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years Masterton
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs N Pauling at 70 Lincoln Road Masterton
Folio	1600
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, 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).