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 2650

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar F. W. Gould

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

12 February 1920

Patrick Small
Evelyn Violet Crawford

Patrick Small
Evelyn Violet Crawford
💍 1920/5322

Widower 14.9.12
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

41
23

Wheatstone
Netherby

41 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

2700

12 February 1920

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

No	6
Date of Notice	12 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Small	Evelyn Violet Crawford
	💍 1920/5322
Condition	Widower 14.9.12	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	41	23
Dwelling Place	Wheatstone	Netherby
Length of Residence	41 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	2700
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

16 February 1920

Samuel Miller
Catherine MacMillan

Samuel Miller
Catherine McMillan
💍 1920/12512

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
28

Mayfield
Tinwald

31 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church Tinwald

2701

16 February 1920

Rev. William Marshall, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	16 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Miller	Catherine MacMillan
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Miller	Catherine McMillan
	💍 1920/12512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Tinwald
Length of Residence	31 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tinwald
Folio	2701
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Marshall, Presbyterian

21 February 1920

Reginald James Marsden
Margaret McGee

Reginald James Marsdey
Margaret McGee
💍 1920/12513

Bachelor
Widow 4-10-17

Labourer
Domestic duties

56
37

Treworton
Ashburton

56 years
37 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

2702

21 February 1920

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	21 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald James Marsden	Margaret McGee
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald James Marsdey	Margaret McGee
	💍 1920/12513
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 4-10-17
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	56	37
Dwelling Place	Treworton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	56 years	37 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	2702
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

21 February 1920

William Stephens
Catherine Daisy Simpson

William Stephens
Catherine Daisy Simpson
💍 1920/12514

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
35

Waterton
Hinds

4 years
4 months

Church of England Hinds

2703

21 February 1920

Rev. J. F. Heron, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	21 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stephens	Catherine Daisy Simpson
	💍 1920/12514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Hinds
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Hinds
Folio	2703
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Heron, Church of England

21 February 1920

Allan Russell Lucas
Amy Ambrozine White

Allan Russell Clucas
Amy Ambrozine White
💍 1920/12515

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Allenton
Allenton

10 years
8 years

Methodist Church Baring Square Ashburton

2704

21 February 1920

James Belshaw, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	21 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Russell Lucas	Amy Ambrozine White
BDM Match (95%)	Allan Russell Clucas	Amy Ambrozine White
	💍 1920/12515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Baring Square Ashburton
Folio	2704
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1920
Officiating Minister	James Belshaw, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).