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 1772

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 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

107

20 August 1920

Arthur Caesar Bretney
Maud Mary Bottle

Arthur Coesar Cretney
Maud Mary Cottle
💍 1920/8675

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home Duties

26
23

Masterton
Masterton

2 years
23 years

Kopuaranga Presbyterian Church

8476

20 August 1920

Rev. John Thomson Macky, Presbyterian

No	107
Date of Notice	20 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Caesar Bretney	Maud Mary Bottle
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Coesar Cretney	Maud Mary Cottle
	💍 1920/8675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Kopuaranga Presbyterian Church
Folio	8476
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Thomson Macky, Presbyterian

108

24 August 1920

Francis Lot Cross
Ruth Alice Mary Burling

Francis Lot Cross
Ruth Alice Mary Burling
💍 1920/8686

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab Proprietor
Domestic Duties

23
18

Masterton
Masterton

Lifetime
Lifetime

St. Matthew's Church at Masterton

8477

Alexander Alfred Burling (father)

24 August 1920

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

No	108
Date of Notice	24 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lot Cross	Ruth Alice Mary Burling
	💍 1920/8686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	Lifetime	Lifetime
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church at Masterton
Folio	8477
Consent	Alexander Alfred Burling (father)
Date of Certificate	24 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

109

24 August 1920

Norman Quinton Boomber
Mabel Florence Darlington

Norman Quintan Coomber
Mabel Florence Darlington
💍 1920/8692

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

28
24

Masterton
Masterton

6 years
14 years

Knox Church Masterton

8478

24 August 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	24 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Quinton Boomber	Mabel Florence Darlington
BDM Match (95%)	Norman Quintan Coomber	Mabel Florence Darlington
	💍 1920/8692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Masterton
Folio	8478
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

110

1 September 1920

John Morrison Scott
Louisa Adeline Sanders

John Mawson Scott
Louisa Adeline Sanders
💍 1920/8693

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
19

Masterton
Masterton

7 Months
6 Months

Registrar's Office, Masterton

8479

Thomas Sanders (father)

1 September 1920

James Miller, Registrar

No	110
Date of Notice	1 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morrison Scott	Louisa Adeline Sanders
BDM Match (89%)	John Mawson Scott	Louisa Adeline Sanders
	💍 1920/8693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	7 Months	6 Months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	8479
Consent	Thomas Sanders (father)
Date of Certificate	1 September 1920
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

111

7 September 1920

Samuel Smith
Mary Whitfield

Samuel Smeth
Mary Whittfield
💍 1920/8694

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 15/7/1920)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

44
32

Masterton
Masterton

Lifetime
4 years

Dwelling-house of Mr. J. Smith at Tararua Street Masterton

8480

7 September 1920

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	111
Date of Notice	7 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Smith	Mary Whitfield
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Smeth	Mary Whittfield
	💍 1920/8694
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 15/7/1920)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	Lifetime	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling-house of Mr. J. Smith at Tararua Street Masterton
Folio	8480
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).