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 1760

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar H. Beer

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

5 April 1920

Cecil Major Stagpoole
Lottie Woodley

Cecil Major Stagpoole
Lottie Woodley
💍 1920/1640

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental mechanic
Domestic Duties

25
23

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
2 weeks

Methodist Church, Masterton

5471

5 April 1920

Rev. James Cocker, Methodist Church of New Zealand

No	52
Date of Notice	5 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Major Stagpoole	Lottie Woodley
	💍 1920/1640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Masterton
Folio	5471
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Cocker, Methodist Church of New Zealand

6 April 1920

Henry Claude Skeen
Raynie King

Henry Claude Skeen
Rayne King
💍 1920/1641

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Salesman
Clerk

32
23

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
23 years

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

5472

6 April 1920

Rev. John Walker, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Claude Skeen	Raynie King
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Claude Skeen	Rayne King
	💍 1920/1641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Salesman	Clerk
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	5472
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England

6 April 1920

Patrick Clive McKenna
Rose Hannah Bennett

Patrick Clive McKenna
Rose Hannah Bennett
💍 1937/122

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Mental Hospital Nurse

28
28

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
3 days

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

5473

6 April 1920

Right Rev. Monsignor J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	54
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Clive McKenna	Rose Hannah Bennett
	💍 1937/122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Mental Hospital Nurse
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	5473
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

8 April 1920

Frank Wedderspoon Loudon
Sarah Ellen Ibison

Frank Wedderspoon Loudon
Sarah Ellen Ibison
💍 1920/1921

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier member of N.Z. Expeditionary Forces
Typiste

21
20

Trentham Military Hospital
Masterton

12 months

Knox Church Masterton

5474

John William Ibison - father

8 April 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	8 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Wedderspoon Loudon	Sarah Ellen Ibison
	💍 1920/1921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier member of N.Z. Expeditionary Forces	Typiste
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Trentham Military Hospital	Masterton
Length of Residence		12 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church Masterton
Folio	5474
Consent	John William Ibison - father
Date of Certificate	8 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

9 April 1920

Harold John Rayner
Elizabeth Rose Evelyn Oliver

Harold John Rayner
Elizabeth Rose Evelyn Oliver
💍 1920/1932

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

18
18

Taratahi
Masterton

18 years in Carterton dist
12 months

House of Mrs. Mary E. Bell, Upper Plain

5475

William Vinson Rayner - father. Mary Elizabeth Bell - mother.

9 April 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	9 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Rayner	Elizabeth Rose Evelyn Oliver
	💍 1920/1932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Taratahi	Masterton
Length of Residence	18 years in Carterton dist	12 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Mary E. Bell, Upper Plain
Folio	5475
Consent	William Vinson Rayner - father. Mary Elizabeth Bell - mother.
Date of Certificate	9 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, 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).