Intentions to Marry, 1920 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840493, 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.

1920f contains pages 2345-2956, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2485

District of Motueka Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar H. G. Hunt

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

16 October 1920

Charlie John Stephen Starnes
Althea Evelyn Amy Flett

Charlie John Stephen Starnes
Althea Evelyn Amy Flett
💍 1920/9467

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
25

Lower Moutere
Lower Moutere

36 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. C. D. Flett, Lower Moutere

20/11615

16 October 1920

Rev. C. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	16 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charlie John Stephen Starnes	Althea Evelyn Amy Flett
	💍 1920/9467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Moutere	Lower Moutere
Length of Residence	36 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. D. Flett, Lower Moutere
Folio	20/11615
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

18 October 1920

George Moore
Kate Rosley Smith

George Moore
Kate Rosley Smith
💍 1920/9468

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

36
25

Motueka
Lower Moutere

18 months
20 years

Residence of Mr. A. M. Smith, Lower Moutere

20/11616

18 October 1920

Rev. C. W. Brown, Wesleyan

No	32
Date of Notice	18 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Moore	Kate Rosley Smith
	💍 1920/9468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Lower Moutere
Length of Residence	18 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. M. Smith, Lower Moutere
Folio	20/11616
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Brown, Wesleyan

19 October 1920

Leslie John Thomason
Vera Askew

Leslie John Thomason
Vera Askew
💍 1920/9446

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
25

Orinoco
Riwaka

32 years
6 months

Residence of Edward Jacob George Askew, Riwaka

20/11617

19 October 1920

Rev. C. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	19 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie John Thomason	Vera Askew
	💍 1920/9446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Orinoco	Riwaka
Length of Residence	32 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward Jacob George Askew, Riwaka
Folio	20/11617
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

1 November 1920

John Herbert Evans
Sarah Parkinson

John Herbert Evans
Sarah Parkinson
💍 1920/9447

Widower 8-10-19
Widow 1917

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
27

Pangatotara
Pangatotara

45 years
3 months

Residence of John Herbert Evans, Pangatotara

20/11618

1 November 1920

Rev. C. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	1 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Evans	Sarah Parkinson
	💍 1920/9447
Condition	Widower 8-10-19	Widow 1917
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	27
Dwelling Place	Pangatotara	Pangatotara
Length of Residence	45 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Herbert Evans, Pangatotara
Folio	20/11618
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

6 November 1920

Otto Edmund Eggers
Margaretha Henrietta Eggers

Otto Edmund Eggers
Margaretha Henrietta Eggers
💍 1920/9448

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Upper Moutere
Upper Moutere

25 years
22 years

Lutheran Church, Upper Moutere

20/11619

6 November 1920

Rev. A. Appelt, Lutheran

No	35
Date of Notice	6 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Otto Edmund Eggers	Margaretha Henrietta Eggers
	💍 1920/9448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Upper Moutere	Upper Moutere
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church, Upper Moutere
Folio	20/11619
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Appelt, Lutheran

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).