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 1764

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar 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

9 June 1920

Leonard Robert Wilton
Alma Pauline McLachlan

Leonard Robert Wilton
Ilma Pauline McLachlan
💍 1920/1930

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
27

Rangitumau
Opaki

Lifetime
Lifetime

Knox Church at Masterton

5431

9 June 1920

Rev. G. Brown, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	9 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Robert Wilton	Alma Pauline McLachlan
BDM Match (98%)	Leonard Robert Wilton	Ilma Pauline McLachlan
	💍 1920/1930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Rangitumau	Opaki
Length of Residence	Lifetime	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	5431
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Brown, Presbyterian

10 June 1920

Thomas Egglestone
Martha Jane Crossley

Thomas Egglestone
Martha Jane Crossley
💍 1920/1931

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

35
31

Masterton
Masterton

4 days
6 months

Methodist Church at Masterton

5432

10 June 1920

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	73
Date of Notice	10 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Egglestone	Martha Jane Crossley
	💍 1920/1931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Masterton
Folio	5432
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

12 June 1920

Herbert Howard Loader
Irene Isabella McKenzie

Herbert Howard Loader
Irene Isabella McKenzie
💍 1920/1933

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home Duties

27
26

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

14 years
10 years

English Church at Dannevirke

5433

12 June 1920

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	12 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Howard Loader	Irene Isabella McKenzie
	💍 1920/1933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	English Church at Dannevirke
Folio	5433
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

14 June 1920

Walter Leonard Clark
Olive Mary Hooker

Walter Leonard Clark
Olive May Hooker
💍 1920/1934

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

28
27

Masterton
Masterton

28 years
4 years

Knox Church Masterton

5434

14 June 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	14 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Leonard Clark	Olive Mary Hooker
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Leonard Clark	Olive May Hooker
	💍 1920/1934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Masterton
Folio	5434
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

15 June 1920

James Hanley
Eileen Maud Bentley

James Hanley
Eileen Maud Bentley
💍 1920/1935

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Home Duties

29
25

Masterton
Masterton

25 years
25 years

St. Patrick's Church Masterton

5435

15 June 1920

Right Rev. Monsignor John McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	76
Date of Notice	15 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hanley	Eileen Maud Bentley
	💍 1920/1935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Home Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Masterton
Folio	5435
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor John McKenna, Roman Catholic

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).