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 2478

District of Motueka Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar Guy R. Wills

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

19 April 1920

Edwin John Holloway
Ivy Eliza Schildhauer

Edwin John Holdaway
Ivy Eliza Schildhauer
💍 1920/6245

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

40
26

Braeburn
Braeburn

40 years
26 years

The Public Hall Braeburn

5803

19 April 1920

Rev. W. J. Harvey Presbyterian Minister

No	11
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin John Holloway	Ivy Eliza Schildhauer
BDM Match (95%)	Edwin John Holdaway	Ivy Eliza Schildhauer
	💍 1920/6245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Braeburn	Braeburn
Length of Residence	40 years	26 years
Marriage Place	The Public Hall Braeburn
Folio	5803
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Harvey Presbyterian Minister

24 April 1920

Francis Allen Coleman
Gladys Rose Bockmann

Francis Allan Coleman
Gladys Rose Bockmann
💍 1920/6246

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
22

Upper Moutere
Upper Moutere

6 days
22 years

Presbyterian Church Upper Moutere

5804

24 April 1920

Rev. Grundy Presbyterian Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	24 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Allen Coleman	Gladys Rose Bockmann
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Allan Coleman	Gladys Rose Bockmann
	💍 1920/6246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Upper Moutere	Upper Moutere
Length of Residence	6 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Upper Moutere
Folio	5804
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Grundy Presbyterian Minister

6 May 1920

Willie Venn Drummond
Muriel Eva Inwood

Willie Vernon Drummond
Muriel Elsia Inwood
💍 1920/6247

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
22

Riwaka
Riwaka

23 years
22 years

Office of Deputy Registrar of Marriages Motueka

5805

6 May 1920

G. W. Bonner Registrar of Marriages Motueka

No	13
Date of Notice	6 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Venn Drummond	Muriel Eva Inwood
BDM Match (88%)	Willie Vernon Drummond	Muriel Elsia Inwood
	💍 1920/6247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Riwaka	Riwaka
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of Deputy Registrar of Marriages Motueka
Folio	5805
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1920
Officiating Minister	G. W. Bonner Registrar of Marriages Motueka

8 May 1920

Claude Nelson
Daisy Marion Wilkins

Claude Nelson
Daisy Marion Wilkens
💍 1920/6248

Bachelor
Spinster

House Decorator
Domestic Duties

28
21

Motueka
Motueka

8 days
5 years

Residence of Mr D. Wilkins House, Motueka

5806

8 May 1920

Rev. W. J. Harvey Presbyterian Minister

No	14
Date of Notice	8 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Nelson	Daisy Marion Wilkins
BDM Match (98%)	Claude Nelson	Daisy Marion Wilkens
	💍 1920/6248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	House Decorator	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Motueka
Length of Residence	8 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr D. Wilkins House, Motueka
Folio	5806
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Harvey Presbyterian Minister

17 May 1920

Leslie William Wratt
Ethel Blanche Herrick

Leslie William Wratt
Ethel Blanche Herrick
💍 1920/6249

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
23

Motueka
Lower Moutere

23 years
20 years

Residence of Mr S.A. Herrick Lower Moutere

5807

17 May 1920

Rev. P. A. Dickson Minister of Church of Christ

No	15
Date of Notice	17 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie William Wratt	Ethel Blanche Herrick
	💍 1920/6249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Lower Moutere
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr S.A. Herrick Lower Moutere
Folio	5807
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Dickson Minister of 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 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).