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 1456

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

166

13 December 1920

Donald Campbell Gilbert
Beatrice Frances Geaghan

Gordon Butler
Beatrice Frances Geaghan
💍 1920/11911

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

39
24

Hastings
Hastings

10 months
2 years

Catholic Church Hastings

11188

13 December 1920

Rev. Father Mahony, Catholic

No	166
Date of Notice	13 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Campbell Gilbert	Beatrice Frances Geaghan
BDM Match (61%)	Gordon Butler	Beatrice Frances Geaghan
	💍 1920/11911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Hastings
Folio	11188
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahony, Catholic

167

14 December 1920

Frederick John Hawley
Elizabeth Brown

Frederick John Hawley
Elizabeth Brown
💍 1920/11912

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic Duties

22
22

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church Hastings

11189

14 December 1920

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	167
Date of Notice	14 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Hawley	Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1920/11912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hastings
Folio	11189
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

168

17 December 1920

Lindsay John MacKerras
Beatrice Audrey Hogland

Lindsay John MacKersey
Beatrice Awdrey Hoyland
💍 1920/11913

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor
Domestic Duties

33
31

Hastings
Hastings

16 years
7 months

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

11190

17 December 1920

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	168
Date of Notice	17 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lindsay John MacKerras	Beatrice Audrey Hogland
BDM Match (89%)	Lindsay John MacKersey	Beatrice Awdrey Hoyland
	💍 1920/11913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	11190
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

169

18 December 1920

Charles Reeves
Ruth Macreight Pinckney

Charles Reeves
Ruth Macreight Pinckney
💍 1920/11914

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

28
23

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
23 years

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

11191

18 December 1920

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	169
Date of Notice	18 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Reeves	Ruth Macreight Pinckney
	💍 1920/11914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	11191
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

170

18 December 1920

Frederick William Honey
Nellie Florence Meller

Frederick William Honey
Nellie Florence Meller
💍 1920/11915

Widower 10th October 1910
Spinster

Fruitgrower
Domestic Duties

61
29

Havelock North
Havelock North

7 years
2 years

Baptist Church Hastings

11192

18 December 1920

Rev. H. E. Edridge, Baptist

No	170
Date of Notice	18 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Honey	Nellie Florence Meller
	💍 1920/11915
Condition	Widower 10th October 1910	Spinster
Profession	Fruitgrower	Domestic Duties
Age	61	29
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Hastings
Folio	11192
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Edridge, Baptist

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).