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 1480

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

101

3 May 1920

Frank Hammond
Dorothy Emma Bailey

Frank Hammond
Dorothy Emma Bailey
💍 1920/1517

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

33
20

Kaiwaka
Kaiwaka

3 years
9 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

5320

Under Section 28

17 May 1920

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	3 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hammond	Dorothy Emma Bailey
	💍 1920/1517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Kaiwaka	Kaiwaka
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	5320
Consent	Under Section 28
Date of Certificate	17 May 1920
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

102

24 May 1920

Arthur Robert McMillin
Frances May Bodley

Arthur Robert McMillin
Frances May Bodley
💍 1920/1519

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Household Duties

31
22

Napier
Napier

4 days
12 days

St. Paul's Church, Napier

5321

24 May 1920

Rev. D. J. Albert, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	24 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Robert McMillin	Frances May Bodley
	💍 1920/1519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Household Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	12 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	5321
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Albert, Presbyterian

103

28 May 1920

Samuel Gempton
Florence Alice Agborne

Samuel Gempton Jun
Florence Alice Ogborne
💍 1920/1520

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman
Domestic

32
24

Napier
Napier

13 years
2 months

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

5322

28 May 1920

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	103
Date of Notice	28 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gempton	Florence Alice Agborne
BDM Match (87%)	Samuel Gempton Jun	Florence Alice Ogborne
	💍 1920/1520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman	Domestic
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	13 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5322
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

104

31 May 1920

William McCulloch
Hilda Fountain

William McCulloch
Hilda Fountain
💍 1920/577

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Accountant
Household Duties

53
38

Napier
Auckland

30 years
4 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Onehunga

4301

31 May 1920

Rev. D. D. Scott, Presbyterian

No	104
Date of Notice	31 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCulloch	Hilda Fountain
	💍 1920/577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant	Household Duties
Age	53	38
Dwelling Place	Napier	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Onehunga
Folio	4301
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Scott, Presbyterian

105

1 June 1920

Keith Melville Hickson
Marion Eliza McDonald

Keith Melville Hickson
Marion Eliza McDonald
💍 1920/1521

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Household Duties

23
20

Napier
Napier

3 weeks
5 years

Residence of G. W. McDonald, Napier

5323

George William McDonald, Father

1 June 1920

Rev. J. Hay, Presbyterian

No	105
Date of Notice	1 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Melville Hickson	Marion Eliza McDonald
	💍 1920/1521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Household Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. W. McDonald, Napier
Folio	5323
Consent	George William McDonald, Father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay, 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).