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 2521

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar S. Tyson

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

3 July 1920

Charles Frederick Stone
Blanche Letitia Stone

Charles Frederick Stone
Blanche Letitia Stone
💍 1920/12474

Bachelor
Widow 13-10-1917

Car driver
Domestic duties

25
23

Nelson
Nelson

25 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

20/8769

3 July 1920

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	68
Date of Notice	3 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Stone	Blanche Letitia Stone
	💍 1920/12474
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 13-10-1917
Profession	Car driver	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	20/8769
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1920
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

6 July 1920

Thomas William McDonald
Olive Teresa Goodman

Thomas William McDonald
Olive Teresa Goodman
💍 1920/9212

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab-proprietor
Domestic duties

25
17

Nelson
Nelson

15 years
17 years

Dwelling of Mary Ann Goodman, St Vincent Street, Nelson

20/8770

Mary Ann Goodman, Mother

6 July 1920

Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William McDonald	Olive Teresa Goodman
	💍 1920/9212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab-proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mary Ann Goodman, St Vincent Street, Nelson
Folio	20/8770
Consent	Mary Ann Goodman, Mother
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

15 July 1920

Charles Lawrence Flanagan
Louisa Elizabeth Seaton

Charles Lawrence Flanagan
Louisa Elizabeth Seaton
💍 1920/9214

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

32
25

Nelson
Nelson

32 years
24 years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

20/8771

15 July 1920

Rev. H. Paring Rowe, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	15 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Lawrence Flanagan	Louisa Elizabeth Seaton
	💍 1920/9214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	32 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	20/8771
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Paring Rowe, Church of England

20 July 1920

Harry McNamara
Grace Saunders

Harry McNamara
Grace Saunders
💍 1920/9215

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

20
27

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

20/8772

Alison Mowat McNamara, Mother

20 July 1920

Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	71
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry McNamara	Grace Saunders
	💍 1920/9215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	20	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	20/8772
Consent	Alison Mowat McNamara, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

20 July 1920

Harry Flowerday
Nellie Yeoman Prout

Harry Flowerday
Nellie Yeoman Prout
💍 1920/9216

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

27
23

Nelson
Nelson

27 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

20/8773

20 July 1920

Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Flowerday	Nellie Yeoman Prout
	💍 1920/9216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	20/8773
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gibb, 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 1925. 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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).