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 2829

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

728

1 July 1920

Anthony Horn
Mary Molan

Anthony Horn
Mary Molan
💍 1920/7445

Bachelor
Spinster

Enginedriver
Clerk

42
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
11 days

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

7277

1 July 1920

Rev. P. Regnault. Roman Catholic

No	728
Date of Notice	1 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Horn	Mary Molan
	💍 1920/7445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver	Clerk
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	11 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	7277
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault. Roman Catholic

729

1 July 1920

Alfred Henry Jarvis
Lillian Dora Noble Manning

Alfred Henry Jarvis
Lillian Dora Noble Manning
💍 1920/7452

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Joiner
Clerk

36
31

Woolston
Linwood

18 years
3 years

St. Mary's Church, Heathcote

7278

1 July 1920

Rev. J. R. Young. Anglican

No	729
Date of Notice	1 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Jarvis	Lillian Dora Noble Manning
	💍 1920/7452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Joiner	Clerk
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Linwood
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Heathcote
Folio	7278
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Young. Anglican

730

2 July 1920

Rufus William Courtney
Gladys Ivy Harris

Rufus William Courtney
Gladys Ivy Harris
💍 1920/7453

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

23
26

Papanui
St. Albans

12 years
26 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

7279

2 July 1920

Rev. J. M. Roche. Roman Catholic

No	730
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rufus William Courtney	Gladys Ivy Harris
	💍 1920/7453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Papanui	St. Albans
Length of Residence	12 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	7279
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Roche. Roman Catholic

731

2 July 1920

James Schimanski
Mary Elizabeth Barbara Dallow

James Schimanski
Mary Elizabeth Barbara Dallow
💍 1920/7454

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
20

Marshland
Papanui

23 years
19 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester St., Christchurch

7280

Cyril Redwood Dallow (father)

2 July 1920

Rev. C. H. Seymour. Roman Catholic

No	731
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Schimanski	Mary Elizabeth Barbara Dallow
	💍 1920/7454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Papanui
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester St., Christchurch
Folio	7280
Consent	Cyril Redwood Dallow (father)
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour. Roman Catholic

732

2 July 1920

Kenneth Walter Julian
Veronica Jessie Wait

Kenneth Walter Julian
Veronica Jessie Wait
💍 1920/7455

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk. New Zealand Railways

22
21

Sydenham
Christchurch

22 years
1 month

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

7281

2 July 1920

Rev. O. FitzGerald. Anglican

No	732
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Walter Julian	Veronica Jessie Wait
	💍 1920/7455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk. New Zealand Railways
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	7281
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. FitzGerald. Anglican

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).