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 1756

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 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

12 March 1920

Frank Stains
Olive Pretoria Ralph

Frank Stains
Olive Pretoria Ralph
💍 1920/3367

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter & Joiner
Domestic Duties

24
19

Masterton
Masterton

24 years
8 years

Methodist Church at Masterton

1601

Fanny Elizabeth Kirton Ralph, mother

12 March 1920

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Stains	Olive Pretoria Ralph
	💍 1920/3367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter & Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	24 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Masterton
Folio	1601
Consent	Fanny Elizabeth Kirton Ralph, mother
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

22 March 1920

Henry Emerson
Phoebe Davis

Henry Emerson
Phoebe Davis
💍 1920/5004

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

21
19

Masterton
Eketahuna

9 years

St Matthew's Church at Eketahuna

1507

John Davis, father

22 March 1920

Rev. J. C. Davies, English Church

No	37
Date of Notice	22 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Emerson	Phoebe Davis
	💍 1920/5004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Eketahuna
Length of Residence	9 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church at Eketahuna
Folio	1507
Consent	John Davis, father
Date of Certificate	22 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Davies, English Church

22 March 1920

Victor George Samuel Davis
Elsie Evelyn Smith

Victor George Samuel Davis
Elsie Evelyn Smith
💍 1920/3378

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Salesman
Domestic

24
24

Masterton
Masterton

24 years
24 years

Knox Church at Masterton

1602

22 March 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown M.A., Presbyterian

No	38
Date of Notice	22 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor George Samuel Davis	Elsie Evelyn Smith
	💍 1920/3378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Salesman	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	1602
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown M.A., Presbyterian

23 March 1920

John Andrews Bevin
Janet Elizabeth Naysmith

John Andrews Bevin
Janet Elizabeth Naysmith
💍 1920/3385

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

23
25

Masterton
Masterton

6 months
4 months

St Matthew's Church at Masterton

1603

23 March 1920

Rev. John Walker, St Matthew's (Anglican)

No	39
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Andrews Bevin	Janet Elizabeth Naysmith
	💍 1920/3385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church at Masterton
Folio	1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, St Matthew's (Anglican)

25 March 1920

Sydney Harry Page
Eva Hausmann

Sydney Harry Page
Eva Hausmann
💍 1920/3386

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
22

Masterton
Masterton

5 years
22 years

Knox Manse at Masterton

1604

25 March 1920

Rev. G. T. Brown MA, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	25 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Harry Page	Eva Hausmann
	💍 1920/3386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Knox Manse at Masterton
Folio	1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown MA, Presbyterian

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).