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 2508

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar G. G. Lyson

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

10 February 1920

Hubers Norman Fry
Lucy Beatrice Dorn

Hubert Norman Fry
Lucy Beatrice Dorn
💍 1920/3837

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

30
31

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
6 weeks

All Saints Church, Nelson

2634

10 February 1920

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubers Norman Fry	Lucy Beatrice Dorn
BDM Match (97%)	Hubert Norman Fry	Lucy Beatrice Dorn
	💍 1920/3837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Nelson
Folio	2634
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

11 February 1920

Joseph Caldwell
Christina McDonald

Joseph Caldwell
Christina McDonald
💍 1920/3814

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree Absolute 26 January 1920

Driver
Domestic Duties

29
30

Nelson
Nelson

10 months
10 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2635

11 February 1920

Mr. G. G. Lyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	17
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Caldwell	Christina McDonald
	💍 1920/3814
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree Absolute 26 January 1920
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2635
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. G. Lyson, Registrar of Marriages

16 February 1920

Edgar John Wills
Evelyn Amy Ferbrache

Edgar John Wills
Evelyn Amy Ferbrache
💍 1920/3815

Bachelor
Spinster

School-teacher
School-teacher

24
28

Stoke
Stoke

2 weeks
2 weeks

Dwelling of William Edward Pickering, Stoke

2636

16 February 1920

Mr. J. G. Price, Church of Christ

No	18
Date of Notice	16 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar John Wills	Evelyn Amy Ferbrache
	💍 1920/3815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School-teacher	School-teacher
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Edward Pickering, Stoke
Folio	2636
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. G. Price, Church of Christ

16 February 1920

John Fowler Black
Ivy Norah Theresa Renney

John Fowler Black
Ivy Norah Theresa Renney
💍 1920/3816

Bachelor
Widow, 24 October 1917

Farmer
Nurse

39
28

Atawhai
Nelson

32 years
6 days

Baptist Church, Nelson

2637

16 February 1920

Rev. John Laird, Baptist

No	19
Date of Notice	16 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fowler Black	Ivy Norah Theresa Renney
	💍 1920/3816
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 24 October 1917
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Atawhai	Nelson
Length of Residence	32 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	2637
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Laird, Baptist

17 February 1920

Hubers Phillip Gyles
Evelyn Esther Waghorn

Hubert Phillip Eyles
Evelyn Esther Waghorn
💍 1920/3817

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2638

17 February 1920

Mr. G. G. Lyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	20
Date of Notice	17 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubers Phillip Gyles	Evelyn Esther Waghorn
BDM Match (95%)	Hubert Phillip Eyles	Evelyn Esther Waghorn
	💍 1920/3817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2638
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. G. Lyson, Registrar of Marriages

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).