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 1720

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar P. 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

27 February 1920

Robert Rough
Florence Diack

Robert Hough
Florence Diack
💍 1920/3362

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
24

Levin
Levin

6 months
18 months

St Mary's Church, Levin

1555

27 February 1920

Rev W. F. Grove, Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Rough	Florence Diack
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Hough	Florence Diack
	💍 1920/3362
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Levin
Folio	1555
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. F. Grove, Anglican

3 March 1920

William Leslie Nelson Forster
Clarice Maud Hill

William Leslie Nelson Forster
Claris Maud Hill
💍 1920/3363

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry Cook
Domestic Duties

22
22

Levin
Levin

3 days
11 months

Century Hall, Levin

1556

3 March 1920

Ira E Paternoster, Church of Christ

No	7
Date of Notice	3 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Nelson Forster	Clarice Maud Hill
BDM Match (94%)	William Leslie Nelson Forster	Claris Maud Hill
	💍 1920/3363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry Cook	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 days	11 months
Marriage Place	Century Hall, Levin
Folio	1556
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Ira E Paternoster, Church of Christ

3 March 1920

Lionel Saunders Purdom
Clara Elsa Alve

Lionel Saunders Purdom
Clara Elsa Alve
💍 1920/4808

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
22

Levin
Rangitane, Palmerston North

6 months
20 years

"All Saints" Church Anglican, Palmerston North

1676

3 March 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	3 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Saunders Purdom	Clara Elsa Alve
	💍 1920/4808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Rangitane, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	"All Saints" Church Anglican, Palmerston North
Folio	1676
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

11 March 1920

Mark Duncan James
Helena Maria Hansen

Mark Duncan James
Helena Maria Hansen
💍 1920/4751

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
23

Levin
Halcombe

35 years
23 years

St John's Church, Feilding

1528

11 March 1920

Rev A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	11 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Duncan James	Helena Maria Hansen
	💍 1920/4751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Levin	Halcombe
Length of Residence	35 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Feilding
Folio	1528
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

27 March 1920

William Frederick Charles Kennett
Florence Margaret Gardener

William Frederick Charles Bennett
Florence Margaret Gardener
💍 1920/3364

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Mechanic
Domestic Duties

21
24

Levin
Levin

3 years
24 years

St Mary's Church of England, Levin

1557

27 March 1920

W. F. Grove, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	27 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Charles Kennett	Florence Margaret Gardener
BDM Match (99%)	William Frederick Charles Bennett	Florence Margaret Gardener
	💍 1920/3364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church of England, Levin
Folio	1557
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1920
Officiating Minister	W. F. Grove, Anglican

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).