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 1478

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

3 May 1920

William James Richardson
Ada Sybil Maud Palmer

William James Richardson
Ada Sybel Maud Palmer
💍 1920/1509

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
21

Taradale
Napier

12 months
14 months

Church of England Taradale

5312

3 May 1920

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	91
Date of Notice	3 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Richardson	Ada Sybil Maud Palmer
BDM Match (98%)	William James Richardson	Ada Sybel Maud Palmer
	💍 1920/1509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	12 months	14 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Taradale
Folio	5312
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

5 May 1920

Haskell Anderson
Marjory Fanny Price

Haskell Anderson
Marjory Fanny Price
💍 1920/1473

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Garage Proprietor
Clerk

23
22

Napier
Hastings

23 years
5 weeks

St Matthews Church Hastings

5275

5 May 1920

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	92
Date of Notice	5 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Haskell Anderson	Marjory Fanny Price
	💍 1920/1473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Garage Proprietor	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	23 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	5275
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

6 May 1920

James Heasley Baker
Elizabeth Mabel Colbert

James Heasley Baker
Elizabeth Mabel Colbert
💍 1920/1510

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic

21
22

Napier
Napier

3 years
15 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

5313

6 May 1920

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	93
Date of Notice	6 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Heasley Baker	Elizabeth Mabel Colbert
	💍 1920/1510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5313
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

6 May 1920

James Henry Goodchild
Edith May Moody

James Henry Goodchild
Edith May Moody
💍 1920/1511

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic

31
35

Clive
Clive

4 days
3 months

St Marks Church Clive

5314

6 May 1920

Rev. Canon Lush, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	6 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Goodchild	Edith May Moody
	💍 1920/1511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Clive
Folio	5314
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Lush, Church of England

6 May 1920

Neil Paterson Wallace
Margaret Graham

Neil Patterson Wallace
Margaret Graham
💍 1920/1512

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Household Duties

26
25

Eskdale
Napier

26 years
7 days

3 Hooker Avenue Napier

5315

6 May 1920

Rev. C. Connor, Presbyterian

No	95
Date of Notice	6 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Paterson Wallace	Margaret Graham
BDM Match (98%)	Neil Patterson Wallace	Margaret Graham
	💍 1920/1512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Household Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Eskdale	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	7 days
Marriage Place	3 Hooker Avenue Napier
Folio	5315
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Connor, 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).