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 2666

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar C. W. Williams

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

30 July 1920

Daniel Bell
Bessie Mary Reeves

Daniel Bell
Bessie Mary Reeves
💍 1920/8919

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

27
27

Lismore
Carew

27 years
8 years

at the dwelling of Philip Reeves Carew

8839

30 July 1920

Rev J. F. Feron, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Bell	Bessie Mary Reeves
	💍 1920/8919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Lismore	Carew
Length of Residence	27 years	8 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Philip Reeves Carew
Folio	8839
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. Feron, Church of England

30 July 1920

Henry Germain Stephenson
Muriel Maud Margaret Osborn

Henry Permain Stephenson
Muriel Maud Margaret Osborn
💍 1920/8920

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

38
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

38 years
25 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

8840

30 July 1920

Rev J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	73
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Germain Stephenson	Muriel Maud Margaret Osborn
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Permain Stephenson	Muriel Maud Margaret Osborn
	💍 1920/8920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	38 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	8840
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

31 July 1920

James Frederic James
Kathleen Mary Clarke

James Frederic Jaine
Kathleen Mary Clarke
💍 1920/8921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

30
20

Methven
Spread-eagle

10 months
2 months

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

8841

Joseph Thomas Clarke father of minor

31 July 1920

Rev J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	31 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederic James	Kathleen Mary Clarke
BDM Match (93%)	James Frederic Jaine	Kathleen Mary Clarke
	💍 1920/8921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Methven	Spread-eagle
Length of Residence	10 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	8841
Consent	Joseph Thomas Clarke father of minor
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

2 August 1920

Horace Langdon
Lela Stewart Jamieson

Horace Langdon
Ella Stewart Jamieson
💍 1920/8922

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

29
23

Westerfield
Westerfield

29 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

8842

2 August 1920

Rev George Miller, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	2 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Langdon	Lela Stewart Jamieson
BDM Match (95%)	Horace Langdon	Ella Stewart Jamieson
	💍 1920/8922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Westerfield
Length of Residence	29 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	8842
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev George Miller, Presbyterian

3 August 1920

Thomas Alexander Raney
Rosalie Reid

Thomas Alexander Rainey
Rosalie Reid
💍 1920/8924

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
domestic duties

24
20

Allenton
Tinwald

24 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

8843

Deborah Reid mother of minor

3 August 1920

Rev George Miller, Presbyterian

No	76
Date of Notice	3 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Raney	Rosalie Reid
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Alexander Rainey	Rosalie Reid
	💍 1920/8924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	8843
Consent	Deborah Reid mother of minor
Date of Certificate	3 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev George Miller, 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).