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 1834

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

4 March 1920

Lionel Saunders Purdom
Clara Elsa Alve

Lionel Saunders Purdom
Clara Elsa Alve
💍 1920/4808

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
22

Levin
Rangitane

6 months
20 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

1676

4 March 1920

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	4 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Saunders Purdom	Clara Elsa Alve
	💍 1920/4808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Rangitane
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	1676
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

6 March 1920

John William Thomas
Violet Anderson

John William Thomas
Violet Anderson
💍 1920/4819

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

27
22

Longburn
Palmerston North

7 years
22 years

Residence of Mrs E. Anderson, 96 Alexandra Street, Palmerston North

1677

6 March 1920

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	6 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Thomas	Violet Anderson
	💍 1920/4819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Longburn	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs E. Anderson, 96 Alexandra Street, Palmerston North
Folio	1677
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

9 March 1920

Frederick Albin Victor Hoatten
Grace Phillips

Frederick Albin Victor Hoalten
Grace Phillips
💍 1920/4826

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

32
21

Palmerston North
Ashhurst

3 days
2 years

St Pauls Methodist Church, Palmerston North

1678

9 March 1920

Rev W. Gatman, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Albin Victor Hoatten	Grace Phillips
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Albin Victor Hoalten	Grace Phillips
	💍 1920/4826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Ashhurst
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	1678
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Gatman, Methodist

9 March 1920

Richard Henry Knowles Kempton
Lucy Caroline Horn

Richard Henry Knowles Kempton
Lucy Caroline Horn
💍 1920/4827

Widower February 7th 1917
Spinster

Minister of Religion
Domestic

51
51

Dunedin
Palmerston North

6 months
1 year

Baptist Church, Church Street, Palmerston North

1679

9 March 1920

Rev C.W. Duncumb, Baptist

No	49
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Knowles Kempton	Lucy Caroline Horn
	💍 1920/4827
Condition	Widower February 7th 1917	Spinster
Profession	Minister of Religion	Domestic
Age	51	51
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Church Street, Palmerston North
Folio	1679
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C.W. Duncumb, Baptist

9 March 1920

Alfred James Coy
Cecilia Margaret Capp

Alfred James Coy
Cecilia Margaret Copp
💍 1920/4828

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

14 years
14 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

1680

9 March 1920

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	50
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Coy	Cecilia Margaret Capp
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred James Coy	Cecilia Margaret Copp
	💍 1920/4828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	1680
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

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).