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 2709

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1920

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

151

12 February 1920

Horace Wilson
Daisy Chisholm Turton

Horace Wilson
Daisy Chisholm Turton
💍 1920/3909

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

36
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
Life

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

3187

12 February 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	151
Date of Notice	12 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Wilson	Daisy Chisholm Turton
	💍 1920/3909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	3187
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

152

12 February 1920

Albert Frederick Johnson
Elizabeth Mary Gundersen

Albert Frederick Johnson
Elizabeth Mary Gunderson
💍 1920/2730

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
9 months

St. Mary's Church Addington

293

Margaret Gundersen, mother

12 February 1920

Rev. W. D. Bean, Anglican

No	152
Date of Notice	12 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frederick Johnson	Elizabeth Mary Gundersen
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Frederick Johnson	Elizabeth Mary Gunderson
	💍 1920/2730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	293
Consent	Margaret Gundersen, mother
Date of Certificate	12 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. D. Bean, Anglican

153

13 February 1920

James McDonald
Mabel Gertrude Brooks

James McDonald
Mabel Gertrude Crooks
💍 1920/2732

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

25
25

Sydenham
St. Albans

15 years
4 years

St. Matthews Church St. Albans

294

13 February 1920

Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

No	153
Date of Notice	13 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McDonald	Mabel Gertrude Brooks
BDM Match (98%)	James McDonald	Mabel Gertrude Crooks
	💍 1920/2732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St. Albans
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church St. Albans
Folio	294
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

154

13 February 1920

Edward Henry Davies
Irene Gladys Morgan

Edward Henry Davies
Irene Gladys Worgan
💍 1920/2733

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
27

Sydenham
Woolston

1 year
10 years

St. Saviours Church Sydenham

295

13 February 1920

Rev. H. P. Hughes, Anglican

No	154
Date of Notice	13 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Davies	Irene Gladys Morgan
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Henry Davies	Irene Gladys Worgan
	💍 1920/2733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Woolston
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church Sydenham
Folio	295
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Hughes, Anglican

155

13 February 1920

Joseph Arthur Crowley
Emily Wilhelmina Speckman

Joseph Arthur Crawley
Emily Wilhelmina Speckman
💍 1920/2734

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

27
31

Spreydon
Spreydon

20 years
2 weeks

Residence of Mr. W. Crowley, 9 Strickland St., Spreydon

296

13 February 1920

Rev. J. W. Webster, Presbyterian

No	155
Date of Notice	13 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Arthur Crowley	Emily Wilhelmina Speckman
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Arthur Crawley	Emily Wilhelmina Speckman
	💍 1920/2734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	20 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Crowley, 9 Strickland St., Spreydon
Folio	296
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Webster, 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 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).