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 2526

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar S. Tyson

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

29 October 1920

Harold Lee Eban
Ethel Maud Barrett

Harold Lee Eban
Ethel Maud Barrett
💍 1920/9460

Widower 5-4-1919
Widow - Killed in Action 2-1918

Retired Farmer
Domestic duties

67
37

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
1 week

Christ church Cathedral, Nelson

20/11630

29 October 1920

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	93
Date of Notice	29 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Lee Eban	Ethel Maud Barrett
	💍 1920/9460
Condition	Widower 5-4-1919	Widow - Killed in Action 2-1918
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	67	37
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Christ church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	20/11630
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

9 November 1920

Jabez Norman Edwards
Annie Amelia White

Jabez Norman Edwards
Annie Amelia White
💍 1920/9461

Widower 22-11-1918
Spinster

Engraver
Tailoress

28
24

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
6 years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

20/11631

9 November 1920

Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	9 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jabez Norman Edwards	Annie Amelia White
	💍 1920/9461
Condition	Widower 22-11-1918	Spinster
Profession	Engraver	Tailoress
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	20/11631
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

13 November 1920

Christopher Pahl
Janet Hellen Close

Christopher Pahl
Janet Hellen Close
💍 1920/9469

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
25

Nelson
Happy Valley Nelson

3 days
25 years

St John's Church, Happy Valley, Nelson

20/11632

13 November 1920

Rev. A. H. Heron, Church of England

No	95
Date of Notice	13 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Pahl	Janet Hellen Close
	💍 1920/9469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Happy Valley Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Happy Valley, Nelson
Folio	20/11632
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Heron, Church of England

15 November 1920

William Henry Harriss
Elsie Taylor

William Henry Norriss
Elsie Taylor
💍 1920/9480

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
18

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
6 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

20/11633

15 November 1920

S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	96
Date of Notice	15 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Harriss	Elsie Taylor
BDM Match (95%)	William Henry Norriss	Elsie Taylor
	💍 1920/9480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	20/11633
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1920
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

19 November 1920

Andrew Taylor McGregor
Olive Page

Andrew Taylor McGregor
Olive Page
💍 1920/9487

Bachelor
Spinster

Sergeant of Police
Nurse

37
36

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
36 years

Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson

20/11634

19 November 1920

Mr. John Watt, Church of Christ

No	97
Date of Notice	19 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Taylor McGregor	Olive Page
	💍 1920/9487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sergeant of Police	Nurse
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	20/11634
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. John Watt, Church of Christ

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 1925. 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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).