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 2658

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar J. W. [illegible]

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

14 April 1920

Joseph Madden
Margaret Fitzgerald

Joseph Madden
Margaret Fitzgerald
💍 1920/10174

Bachelor
Divorced 31 March 1920

Labourer
Domestic duties

39
34

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 months
12 months

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

3271

14 April 1920

Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Madden	Margaret Fitzgerald
	💍 1920/10174
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 31 March 1920
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	3271
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

15 April 1920

Charles White
Elizabeth Christina Stoddart

Charles White
Elizabeth Christina Stoddart
💍 1920/6316

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
33

Eiffelton
Willoughby

35 years
33 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

5901

15 April 1920

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	15 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles White	Elizabeth Christina Stoddart
	💍 1920/6316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Willoughby
Length of Residence	35 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	5901
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

16 April 1920

David Stevenson Shaw
Elizabeth Mary Wheeler Rogers

David Stevenson Shaw
Elizabeth Mary Wheeler Rogers
💍 1920/6541

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
21

Lowcliffe
Coldstream

5 years
12 years

Church of England Coldstream

5902

16 April 1920

Rev. J. F. Feron, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	16 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Stevenson Shaw	Elizabeth Mary Wheeler Rogers
	💍 1920/6541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Coldstream
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Coldstream
Folio	5902
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Feron, Church of England

17 April 1920

Cecil John Berry
Edith Dyason

Cecil John Berry
Edith Dyason
💍 1920/6552

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter NZR
Domestic duties

31
34

Ashburton
Hampstead

3 days
12 days

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

5903

17 April 1920

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	17 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Berry	Edith Dyason
	💍 1920/6552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter NZR	Domestic duties
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 days	12 days
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	5903
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

19 April 1920

Clifford Whiting
Mary Frances Prendergast

Clifford Whiting
Mary Frances Prendergast
💍 1920/12289

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
24

Lismore
Longbeach

8 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

5904

19 April 1920

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	41
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Whiting	Mary Frances Prendergast
	💍 1920/12289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Lismore	Longbeach
Length of Residence	8 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	5904
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

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).