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 1462

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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

13 January 1920

John McKie
Margaret Isabel Henderson

John McKie
Margaret Isabel Henderson
💍 1920/2108

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Lady Help

25
25

Napier
Napier

16 days
3 months

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

1391

13 January 1920

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	13 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKie	Margaret Isabel Henderson
	💍 1920/2108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Lady Help
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 days	3 months
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	1391
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

16 January 1920

William Cole
Helen Isabella Butler

William Cole
Helen Isabella Butler
💍 1920/2109

Widower 4th Dec. 1918
Widow 24th Mar. 1915

Printer
Domestic Duties

39
47

Napier
Napier

30 years
1 year

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

1392

16 January 1920

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	16 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cole	Helen Isabella Butler
	💍 1920/2109
Condition	Widower 4th Dec. 1918	Widow 24th Mar. 1915
Profession	Printer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	47
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	1392
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

16 January 1920

Alfred Theo Starkey
Dorinda Starkey

Alfred Theo Starkey
Dorinda Starkey
💍 1920/2111

Bachelor
Spinster

Carder
Domestic Duties

29
30

Napier
Napier

29 years
30 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1393

16 January 1920

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	16 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Theo Starkey	Dorinda Starkey
	💍 1920/2111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carder	Domestic Duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	29 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1393
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

17 January 1920

Allan Alexander Gordon
Olive Hilda Banton

Allan Alexander Gordon
Olive Hilda Banton
💍 1920/2112

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
book

25
22

Napier
Napier

4 months
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Port Ahuriri

1394

17 January 1920

Rev. J. Hay, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	17 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Alexander Gordon	Olive Hilda Banton
	💍 1920/2112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	book
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	1394
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay, Presbyterian

17 January 1920

John Brown
Mary Brown

John Brown
Mary Brown
💍 1920/2113

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher
Domestic Duties

21
20

Napier
Napier

1 month
2 months

Residence of J. H. Brown, Hastings Street, Napier

1395

James Brown, Father

17 January 1920

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	20
Date of Notice	17 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Mary Brown
	💍 1920/2113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 month	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of J. H. Brown, Hastings Street, Napier
Folio	1395
Consent	James Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

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).