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 1761

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 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

13 April 1920

John Bannister
Annie McGovern

John Bannister
Annie McGovern
💍 1920/1939

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
25

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
4 years

Knox Church at Masterton

5476

13 April 1920

Rev. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bannister	Annie McGovern
	💍 1920/1939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	5476
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

14 April 1920

Eli Elijah Liddington
Mary May Pike

Eli Elijah Liddington
Mary Mack Pike
💍 1920/1940

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
32

Masterton
Masterton

37 years
9 years

Methodist Parsonage 46 Worksop Road Masterton

5477

14 April 1920

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist Church of New Zealand

No	58
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eli Elijah Liddington	Mary May Pike
BDM Match (93%)	Eli Elijah Liddington	Mary Mack Pike
	💍 1920/1940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	37 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage 46 Worksop Road Masterton
Folio	5477
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist Church of New Zealand

15 April 1920

Norman Bruce Johnston
Margaret Mackenzie

Norman Bruce Johnston
Margaret Mackenzie
💍 1920/1941

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

28
38

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
3 days

Knox Church Masterton

5478

15 April 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	15 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Bruce Johnston	Margaret Mackenzie
	💍 1920/1941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	28	38
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church Masterton
Folio	5478
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

15 April 1920

Henry Ernest Rains
Ivy Marion Phillips

Henry Earnest Rains
Ivy Marion Phillip
💍 1920/1942

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

30
22

Masterton
Masterton

3 weeks
1 month

St. Patrick's Church at Masterton

5479

15 April 1920

Right Rev. Monsignor J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	60
Date of Notice	15 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ernest Rains	Ivy Marion Phillips
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Earnest Rains	Ivy Marion Phillip
	💍 1920/1942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church at Masterton
Folio	5479
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

17 April 1920

William Ernest Wright
Annie Elizabeth Rossiter

William Ernest Wright
Annie Elizabeth Rossiter
💍 1920/1943

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
28

Masterton
Masterton

10 years
6 years

Registrar's Office at Masterton

5480

17 April 1920

J. Miller, Registrar of marriages at Masterton

No	61
Date of Notice	17 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Wright	Annie Elizabeth Rossiter
	💍 1920/1943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Masterton
Folio	5480
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Miller, Registrar of marriages at Masterton

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).