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 2665

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1930 Registrar C. O. Gould

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 1930

George McKenzie
Gladys Williams

George McKenzie
Gladys Williams
💍 1920/8914

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool-classer
domestic duties

43
33

Tinwald
Tinwald

24 years
5 years

At the dwelling of Evans Williams, Tinwald

8834

3 July 1930

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	67
Date of Notice	3 July 1930
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McKenzie	Gladys Williams
	💍 1920/8914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool-classer	domestic duties
Age	43	33
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Evans Williams, Tinwald
Folio	8834
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1930
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

5 July 1930

Joseph Michael O'Neill
Mary Ann Davey

Joseph Michael O'Neill
Mary Ann McAvey
💍 1920/8915

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

23
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

8835

5 July 1930

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	5 July 1930
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Michael O'Neill	Mary Ann Davey
BDM Match (90%)	Joseph Michael O'Neill	Mary Ann McAvey
	💍 1920/8915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	8835
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1930
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

10 July 1930

Harold Hugh Congreve
Priscilla Isabel Rainey

Harold Hugh Congreve
Priscilla Isabell Rainey
💍 1920/8916

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
dress-maker

25
23

Ashburton
Allenton

5 1/2 years
2 3/4 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

8836

10 July 1930

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	10 July 1930
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Hugh Congreve	Priscilla Isabel Rainey
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Hugh Congreve	Priscilla Isabell Rainey
	💍 1920/8916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	dress-maker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	2 3/4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	8836
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1930
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

13 July 1930

Harold Scales
Maddie Isabel Paterson

Harold Scales
Maddie Isabel Paterson
💍 1920/8917

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

33
31

Maronan
Ashburton

8 years
10 days

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

8837

13 July 1930

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	13 July 1930
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Scales	Maddie Isabel Paterson
	💍 1920/8917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Maronan	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	8837
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1930
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

21 July 1930

Raymond Fletcher Ford
Agnes May McFarlane

Raymond Fletcher Ford
Agnes May Macfarlane
💍 1920/8918

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

28
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

8838

21 July 1930

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	71
Date of Notice	21 July 1930
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Fletcher Ford	Agnes May McFarlane
BDM Match (95%)	Raymond Fletcher Ford	Agnes May Macfarlane
	💍 1920/8918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	8838
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1930
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

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).