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 2771

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

455

19 April 1920

Edmund George Morgan
Jessie Maud Etches

Edmund George Morgan
Jessie Maud Etches
💍 1920/5726

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

48
50

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
3 months

St. John's Church, Christchurch

3680

19 April 1920

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	455
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund George Morgan	Jessie Maud Etches
	💍 1920/5726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	48	50
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3680
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

456

19 April 1920

Wilfrid Maunsell Schwartz Kissling
Ethel Mary Robinson

Wilfrid Maunsell Schwartz Kissling
Ethel May Robinson
💍 1920/5733

Bachelor
Spinster

Importer

35
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 months
20 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

3681

19 April 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	456
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfrid Maunsell Schwartz Kissling	Ethel Mary Robinson
BDM Match (97%)	Wilfrid Maunsell Schwartz Kissling	Ethel May Robinson
	💍 1920/5733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Importer
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3681
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

457

19 April 1920

John Henry Parsons
Dorothy Ivy Carter

John Henry Parsons
Dorothy Ivy Carter
💍 1920/5734

Bachelor
Spinster

Pork Butcher
Tailoress

21
21

Sumner
Sumner

1 week
4 years

All Saints' Church, Sumner

3682

19 April 1920

Rev. E. C. Powell, Anglican

No	457
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Parsons	Dorothy Ivy Carter
	💍 1920/5734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pork Butcher	Tailoress
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sumner
Length of Residence	1 week	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Sumner
Folio	3682
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Powell, Anglican

458

19 April 1920

Eugene Riordan
Ellen Ann Ryan

Eugene Riordan
Eileen Ann Ryan
💍 1920/5735

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor

28
26

St. Albans
Christchurch

10 months
6 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

3683

19 April 1920

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	458
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Riordan	Ellen Ann Ryan
BDM Match (93%)	Eugene Riordan	Eileen Ann Ryan
	💍 1920/5735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	3683
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

459

19 April 1920

Roi Mervyn Cummins
Olive Isabel Thompson

Roi Mervyn Cummins
Olive Isabel Thompson
💍 1920/5736

Bachelor
Spinster

Indentor & Importer

26
23

Sydenham
St. Albans

12 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

3684

19 April 1920

Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

No	459
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roi Mervyn Cummins	Olive Isabel Thompson
	💍 1920/5736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indentor & Importer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St. Albans
Length of Residence	12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	3684
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

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).