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 1833

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

24 February 1920

Owen John Dickie
Amy Kathleen Violet Rowe

Owen John Dickie
Amy Kathleen Violet Rowe
💍 1920/3405

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
23

Palmerston North
Rongotea

3 days
23 years

Kosy Theatre Lecture Hall, The Square, Palmerston North

1671

25 February 1920

Rev D. B. Forde Carlisle, Undenominational

No	41
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen John Dickie	Amy Kathleen Violet Rowe
	💍 1920/3405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Rongotea
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Kosy Theatre Lecture Hall, The Square, Palmerston North
Folio	1671
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev D. B. Forde Carlisle, Undenominational

25 February 1920

George Collins Ardell
Phyllis Ida Lines

George Collins Ardell
Phyllis Ida Lines
💍 1920/3406

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway hand
Domestic

23
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
14 days

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

1672

25 February 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	42
Date of Notice	25 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Collins Ardell	Phyllis Ida Lines
	💍 1920/3406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway hand	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	1672
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

28 February 1920

Walter John Duncan
Catherine Agnes McIntyre

Walter John Duncan
Catherine Agnes McIntyre
💍 1920/3407

Bachelor
Spinster

Apiarist
Nurse

31
36

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
4 days

Registrars Office, Palmerston North

1673

28 February 1920

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	28 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Duncan	Catherine Agnes McIntyre
	💍 1920/3407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Apiarist	Nurse
Age	31	36
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Palmerston North
Folio	1673
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1920
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

3 March 1920

Richard Harvey Miller
Iris Elizabeth Bowie

Richard Harvey Miller
Iris Elizabeth Bowie
💍 1920/3408

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

25
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
18 months

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

1674

3 March 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	44
Date of Notice	3 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Harvey Miller	Iris Elizabeth Bowie
	💍 1920/3408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	1674
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

3 March 1920

William Herbert Crombie
Alice May Bacon

William Herbert Crombie
Alice May Bacon
💍 1920/3409

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic

26
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
4 years

Registrars Office, Palmerston North

1675

3 March 1920

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	3 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Crombie	Alice May Bacon
	💍 1920/3409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Palmerston North
Folio	1675
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1920
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, 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).