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 2864

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

902

1 September 1920

Leighton John Dysart Weir
Mary Ann Munro

Leighton John Dysart Weir
Mary Ann Munro
💍 1920/7885

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk. N.Z.R.

25
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 1/2 years
3 days

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

7445

1 September 1920

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	902
Date of Notice	1 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leighton John Dysart Weir	Mary Ann Munro
	💍 1920/7885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk. N.Z.R.
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	7445
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

903

1 September 1920

William Frederick Keys
Blanche Raby

William Frederick Keys
Blanche Raby
💍 1920/7887

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

27
27

St. Albans
St. Albans

1 1/2 years
7 weeks

St. Matthews Church St. Albans

7446

1 September 1920

Rev. D. Hamilton Anglican

No	903
Date of Notice	1 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Keys	Blanche Raby
	💍 1920/7887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	7 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church St. Albans
Folio	7446
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hamilton Anglican

904

2 September 1920

Charles Andrew Ker Clark
Ada Hooley

Charles Andrew Ker Clark
Ada Hooley
💍 1920/7888

Divorced Decree Absolute 31 May 1919
Spinster

Chemist

30
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
6 years

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

7447

2 September 1920

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	904
Date of Notice	2 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Andrew Ker Clark	Ada Hooley
	💍 1920/7888
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 31 May 1919	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	7447
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

905

3 September 1920

William Joseph Barker
Amy Florence Arthur

William Joseph Barker
Amy Florence Arthur
💍 1920/7889

Married but not heard of wife as alive for ten years last past.
Spinster

Fireman

40
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office Christchurch

7448

2 September 1920

Registrar

No	905
Date of Notice	3 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Barker	Amy Florence Arthur
	💍 1920/7889
Condition	Married but not heard of wife as alive for ten years last past.	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	7448
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

906

3 September 1920

José Louis Gundersen
Evelyn Bond

Jose Louis Gundersen
Evelyn Bond
💍 1920/7890

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
25

Christchurch
Riccarton

Life
4 years

St. Peter's Church Riccarton

7449

3 September 1920

Rev. H.T. York Anglican

No	906
Date of Notice	3 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	José Louis Gundersen	Evelyn Bond
BDM Match (95%)	Jose Louis Gundersen	Evelyn Bond
	💍 1920/7890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	Life	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Riccarton
Folio	7449
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.T. York 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).