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 1769

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar James 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

22 July 1920

John Henry Riley
Dorinda Alice Westbrook

John Henry Riley
Dorinda Alice Westbrook
💍 1920/8581

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

27
21

Masterton
Masterton

3 Months
4 days

Registrar's Office at Masterton

8462

22 July 1920

James Miller, Registrar

No	92
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Riley	Dorinda Alice Westbrook
	💍 1920/8581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 Months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Masterton
Folio	8462
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

22 July 1920

Walter Rowland Walker
Emily Maud Woolmington

Walter Rowland Walker
Emily Maud Woolmington
💍 1920/8582

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
23

Masterton
Masterton

6 years
4 Months

Registrar's Office at Masterton

8463

22 July 1920

James Miller, Registrar

No	93
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Rowland Walker	Emily Maud Woolmington
	💍 1920/8582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 years	4 Months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Masterton
Folio	8463
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

22 July 1920

John Bruce Millar
Nellie Lilian Bottle

John Bruce Millar
Nellie Lilian Cottle
💍 1920/8583

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

34
24

Masterton
Masterton

7 years
22 years

Residence of Mr. J. J. Bottle at Kopuaranga

8464

22 July 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	94
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bruce Millar	Nellie Lilian Bottle
BDM Match (98%)	John Bruce Millar	Nellie Lilian Cottle
	💍 1920/8583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. J. Bottle at Kopuaranga
Folio	8464
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

30 July 1920

Victor Williams Ogilvie Jones
Mary Johnson

Victor William Ogilvie Jones
Mary Johnson
💍 1920/8584

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

23
24

Masterton
Masterton

18 years
4 years

St. Matthew's Church at Masterton

8465

30 July 1920

Rev. John Walker, Church of England

No	95
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Williams Ogilvie Jones	Mary Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	Victor William Ogilvie Jones	Mary Johnson
	💍 1920/8584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	18 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church at Masterton
Folio	8465
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England

31 July 1920

John Thomson Mackay
Olive Jessie Itmar

John Thomson Macky
Olive Jessie Gruar
💍 1920/8117

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister of Religion
School-teacher

30
29

Masterton
Hamilton

4 Months
9 Months

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Hamilton

7857

31 July 1920

Rev. W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	31 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomson Mackay	Olive Jessie Itmar
BDM Match (89%)	John Thomson Macky	Olive Jessie Gruar
	💍 1920/8117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister of Religion	School-teacher
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 Months	9 Months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Hamilton
Folio	7857
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Black, 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).