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 1436

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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

10 May 1920

Alexander Duncan Shanks Whyte
Eva Marguerite Couper

Alexander Duncan Shanks Whyte
Eva Marguerite Couper
💍 1920/1472

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic Duties

27
30

Havelock North
Havelock North

4 days
30 years

St Columbas Church Havelock

5274

10 May 1920

Rev. R. Waugh

No	68
Date of Notice	10 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Duncan Shanks Whyte	Eva Marguerite Couper
	💍 1920/1472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic Duties
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	4 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St Columbas Church Havelock
Folio	5274
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh

14 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

14 May 1920

Rev. J. H. Simkin

No	69
Date of Notice	14 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	14 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Simkin

20 May 1920

Lawrence George Anderson
Mabel Jane Mills

Laurence George Anderson
Mabel Jane Mills
💍 1920/1474

Bachelor
Spinster

Milk Vendor
Domestic Duties

25
22

Paki Paki
Hastings

10 years
7 years

St Matthews Church Hastings

5276

20 May 1920

Rev. Canon Lush

No	70
Date of Notice	20 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence George Anderson	Mabel Jane Mills
BDM Match (98%)	Laurence George Anderson	Mabel Jane Mills
	💍 1920/1474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milk Vendor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Paki Paki	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	5276
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Lush

21 May 1920

Robert Heffer
Agnes Olive McCormick

Robert Heffer
Agnes Olive McCormick
💍 1920/1482

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Buyer
Domestic Duties

33
25

Hastings
Havelock North

14 years
12 years

St Andrews Church Hastings

5277

21 May 1920

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	72
Date of Notice	21 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Heffer	Agnes Olive McCormick
	💍 1920/1482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Buyer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	14 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Hastings
Folio	5277
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

24 May 1920

Charles Isaac Somerville
Ethel Piggot

Charles Isaac Somerville
Ethel Piggot
💍 1920/1493

Bachelor
Widow

Shepherd
School Teacher

30
31

Clifton, Clive
Clifton, Clive

30 years
5 years

St Lukes Church Havelock North

5278

24 May 1920

Rev. Canon Lush

No	73
Date of Notice	24 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Isaac Somerville	Ethel Piggot
	💍 1920/1493
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shepherd	School Teacher
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Clifton, Clive	Clifton, Clive
Length of Residence	30 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church Havelock North
Folio	5278
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Lush

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).