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 1765

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

16 June 1920

John Butler Parnell Carruthers
Rose Betteridge

John Butler Parnell Carruthers
Rose Betteridge
💍 1920/1936

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Dressmaker

29
27

Masterton
Masterton

3 months
4 days

Knox Church, Masterton

5436

16 June 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	16 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Butler Parnell Carruthers	Rose Betteridge
	💍 1920/1936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	5436
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

16 June 1920

John Gibson Nabbs
Eva Catherine Banston Bannister

John Gibson Nabbs
Eva Catherine Bourton Bannister
💍 1920/1937

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway surfaceman
Home Duties

24
23

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
23 years

Residence of Mr. C. Bannister, Upper Plain, Masterton

5437

16 June 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	78
Date of Notice	16 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gibson Nabbs	Eva Catherine Banston Bannister
BDM Match (95%)	John Gibson Nabbs	Eva Catherine Bourton Bannister
	💍 1920/1937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway surfaceman	Home Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Bannister, Upper Plain, Masterton
Folio	5437
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

18 June 1920

Clarence Edgar Schofield
Agnes Todd

Clarence Edgar Schofield
Agnes Todd
💍 1920/1938

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
18

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
3 days

St. Matthews Church at Masterton

5438

Edmund Charles Todd - father

18 June 1920

Rev. B. D. Ashcroft, Church of England

No	79
Date of Notice	18 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Edgar Schofield	Agnes Todd
	💍 1920/1938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church at Masterton
Folio	5438
Consent	Edmund Charles Todd - father
Date of Certificate	18 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. D. Ashcroft, Church of England

22 June 1920

John Geoffrey Sherborne Stanley Thompson
Mary Louisa Richard

John Geoffry Sherborne Stanley Thompson
Mary Louisa Gichard
💍 1920/1675

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank accountant
Milliner

27
28

Masterton
Masterton

4 days
2 weeks

Church of England, Mauriceville

5439

22 June 1920

Rev. John Walker, Church of England

No	80
Date of Notice	22 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Geoffrey Sherborne Stanley Thompson	Mary Louisa Richard
BDM Match (96%)	John Geoffry Sherborne Stanley Thompson	Mary Louisa Gichard
	💍 1920/1675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank accountant	Milliner
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mauriceville
Folio	5439
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England

26 June 1920

Wilper Weber
Ella Ellis

Wilfred Weber
Ella Ellis
💍 1920/1686

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic Duties

27
18

Masterton
Masterton

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Masterton

5500

May Mary Ellis, Mother

26 June 1920

J. Miller, Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	26 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilper Weber	Ella Ellis
BDM Match (88%)	Wilfred Weber	Ella Ellis
	💍 1920/1686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	5500
Consent	May Mary Ellis, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 June 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Miller, Registrar

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).