Intentions to Marry, 1920 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840494, 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.

1920g contains pages 2957-3440, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2965

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar Patrick John Eccles

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

1/20

12 January 1920

Douglas Leslie McKay
Maude Theresa Parker

Douglas Leslie McKay
Maude Theresa Parker
💍 1920/5342

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

28
32

Leeston
Lower Hutt

3 days

Roman Catholic Church Leeston

2724

12 January 1920

Father P. Creed, Leeston

No	1/20
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Leslie McKay	Maude Theresa Parker
	💍 1920/5342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Leeston
Folio	2724
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Father P. Creed, Leeston

2/20

15 January 1920

James Robertson
Elizabeth Bowater Pearce

James Robertson
Elizabeth Bosustow Pearce
💍 1920/5343

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic Duties

26
19

Brookside
Brookside

6 years
Life

Church of England Southbridge

2725

Ann Jane Pearce mother

15 January 1920

Rev H G Hawkins Southbridge

No	2/20
Date of Notice	15 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robertson	Elizabeth Bowater Pearce
BDM Match (90%)	James Robertson	Elizabeth Bosustow Pearce
	💍 1920/5343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Brookside
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Southbridge
Folio	2725
Consent	Ann Jane Pearce mother
Date of Certificate	15 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H G Hawkins Southbridge

3/20

24 January 1920

John Todd
Ellen Matilda Chappell

John Tod
Ellen Matilda Chappell
💍 1920/5344

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
18

Doyleston
Killinchy

Life
Life

Residence of H. S. Chappell Killinchy

2726

Henry Sydney Chappell Father

24 January 1920

Rev. E W Walker Leeston

No	3/20
Date of Notice	24 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Todd	Ellen Matilda Chappell
BDM Match (94%)	John Tod	Ellen Matilda Chappell
	💍 1920/5344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Killinchy
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of H. S. Chappell Killinchy
Folio	2726
Consent	Henry Sydney Chappell Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E W Walker Leeston

4/20

20 February 1920

Hita Aretasunga Baker
Florence Alicia Kate Penny

Pita Heretaunga Baker
Florence Alicia Kate Penny
💍 1920/5345

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
23

North Bank
North Bank

6 months
12 months

Residence of Mr Penny North Bank

2727

20 February 1920

Rev E N Blakiston Rakaia

No	4/20
Date of Notice	20 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hita Aretasunga Baker	Florence Alicia Kate Penny
BDM Match (91%)	Pita Heretaunga Baker	Florence Alicia Kate Penny
	💍 1920/5345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	North Bank	North Bank
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Penny North Bank
Folio	2727
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev E N Blakiston Rakaia

5/20

19 March 1920

Thomas Edward Henry
Ethel Mary Tucker

Thomas Edward Henry
Ethel May Tucker
💍 1920/5346

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

28
19

Killinchy
Doyleston

15 years
9 months

St Johns Anglican Church Leeston

2728

Henry Edward Tucker Father

19 March 1920

Rev. H. O. T. Hanby

No	5/20
Date of Notice	19 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Henry	Ethel Mary Tucker
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Edward Henry	Ethel May Tucker
	💍 1920/5346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Doyleston
Length of Residence	15 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church Leeston
Folio	2728
Consent	Henry Edward Tucker Father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. T. Hanby

6/20

31 March 1920

Albert Arnie McMullan
Olive Maud Presser

Albert Arvie McMillan
Olive Maude Prosser
💍 1920/5347

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant
Domestic Duties

28
24

Leeston
Leeston

8 years

St Johns Anglican Church Leeston

2729

31 March 1920

Rev H. O. T. Hanby

No	6/20
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Arnie McMullan	Olive Maud Presser
BDM Match (90%)	Albert Arvie McMillan	Olive Maude Prosser
	💍 1920/5347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	8 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church Leeston
Folio	2729
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. O. T. Hanby

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).