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 1730

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar F. W. Percy

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

22 November 1920

Edward John Krivan
Elsie Death

Edward John Krivan
Elsie Death
💍 1920/11978

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic

19
22

Levin
Levin

3 days
15 years

St Marys Levin

11326

Joseph Krivan Father

22 November 1920

Rev W. F. Groves, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	22 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Krivan	Elsie Death
	💍 1920/11978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Levin
Folio	11326
Consent	Joseph Krivan Father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. F. Groves, Church of England

29 November 1920

Walter Henry Rhodes
Annie Lily Riches

Walter Henry Rhodes
Annie Lily Riches
💍 1920/11979

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

32
31

Levin
Levin

20 years
6 years

Church of England Levin

11327

29 November 1920

Rev W. F. Groves, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	29 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Rhodes	Annie Lily Riches
	💍 1920/11979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Levin
Folio	11327
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. F. Groves, Church of England

07 December 1920

Trevor Clive Taylor
Phyllis Elizabeth Prouse

Trevor Clive Taylor
Phyllis Elizabeth Prouse
💍 1920/12312

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
22

Levin
Levin

6 months
22 years

Residence of R. Prouse

11328

07 December 1920

Rev G Frost, Wesleyan Church

No	42
Date of Notice	07 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Clive Taylor	Phyllis Elizabeth Prouse
	💍 1920/12312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. Prouse
Folio	11328
Consent
Date of Certificate	07 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G Frost, Wesleyan Church

15 December 1920

John Henry Rankin
Ivy Irene Bignal

John Henry Rankin
Ivy Irene Bignal
💍 1920/11980

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic

25
20

Weraroa
Weraroa

9 months
20 years

Church of England

11329

Ellen Wood Mother

15 December 1920

Rev W. F. Groves, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	15 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Rankin	Ivy Irene Bignal
	💍 1920/11980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Weraroa	Weraroa
Length of Residence	9 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	11329
Consent	Ellen Wood Mother
Date of Certificate	15 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. F. Groves, Church of England

21 December 1920

George Broomfield
Ethel Marjorie Adkin

George Broomfield
Ethel Marjorie Adkin
💍 1920/11981

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

29
24

Levin
Levin

2 years
22 years

Residence of W. G. Adkin, Queen's Street, Levin

11330

21 December 1920

Rev G Frost, Wesleyan

No	44
Date of Notice	21 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Broomfield	Ethel Marjorie Adkin
	💍 1920/11981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. G. Adkin, Queen's Street, Levin
Folio	11330
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G Frost, Wesleyan

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).