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 2973

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. Buxton

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

5 January 1920

Stanley Arthur Turner
Mary Enia Winifred Brown

Stanley Arthur Turner
Mary Enia Winifred Brown
💍 1920/5355

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Geraldine
Geraldine

Life
Life

Church of England, Geraldine

2730

5 January 1920

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Arthur Turner	Mary Enia Winifred Brown
	💍 1920/5355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Geraldine
Folio	2730
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

6 January 1920

Wilfred McClurg
Sheila McGregor

Wilfred McClure
Merle McGregor
💍 1920/5373

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Nurse

26
24

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
8 years

Church of England, Geraldine

2731

6 January 1920

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred McClurg	Sheila McGregor
BDM Match (83%)	Wilfred McClure	Merle McGregor
	💍 1920/5373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Nurse
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Geraldine
Folio	2731
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

13 February 1920

William Murphy
Winifred Mary Frances

William Murphy
Winnifred Mary Francis
💍 1920/5366

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Telephone Exchange Operator

28
27

Pleasant Valley
Pleasant Valley

28 years
2 weeks

St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

2732

14 February 1920

Rev. A. J. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Murphy	Winifred Mary Frances
BDM Match (95%)	William Murphy	Winnifred Mary Francis
	💍 1920/5366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Telephone Exchange Operator
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Valley	Pleasant Valley
Length of Residence	28 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	2732
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Bowers, Roman Catholic

26 February 1920

Kenneth Dan Mackenzie
Jessie McLeod

Kenneth John Mackenzie
Jessie McLeod
💍 1920/5374

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
30

Ealing
Geraldine

6 months
Life

Presbyterian Church, Geraldine

2733

26 February 1920

Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	26 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Dan Mackenzie	Jessie McLeod
BDM Match (93%)	Kenneth John Mackenzie	Jessie McLeod
	💍 1920/5374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Ealing	Geraldine
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Geraldine
Folio	2733
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

27 February 1920

William Saunders
Catherine Mary Sutherland

William Saunders
Catherine Mary Sutherland
💍 1920/5375

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

28
24

Gapes Valley
Geraldine

1 year
Life

Methodist Church, Geraldine

2734

27 February 1920

Rev. J. P. Harris, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Saunders	Catherine Mary Sutherland
	💍 1920/5375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Gapes Valley	Geraldine
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Geraldine
Folio	2734
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Harris, Methodist

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).