Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840495, 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.

1920h contains pages 3441-3864, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3461

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar [illegible]

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 July 1920

John William Powley
Margaret Gamble

John William Powley
Margaret Gamble
💍 1920/9092

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

32
29

East Taieri
East Taieri

2 years
29 years

Presbyterian Church East Taieri

8994

10 July 1920

Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	10 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Powley	Margaret Gamble
	💍 1920/9092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	East Taieri	East Taieri
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church East Taieri
Folio	8994
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

20 July 1920

Herbert Oliver Alexander Ross
Lottie Phyllis Jarvis

Herbert Oliver Alexander Ross
Lottie Phyllis Jarvis
💍 1920/9094

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyors Assistant
Domestic Duties

25
20

Allanton
Allanton

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church Allanton

8995

Prudence Jarvis, Mother

20 July 1920

Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Oliver Alexander Ross	Lottie Phyllis Jarvis
	💍 1920/9094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyors Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Allanton	Allanton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Allanton
Folio	8995
Consent	Prudence Jarvis, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

26 July 1920

Herbert Bruce Johnstone Campbell
Isabella Thomson Graham

Herbert Bruce Johnstone Campbell
Isabella Thomson Graham
💍 1920/9095

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

31
23

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

11 years
4 weeks

Presbyterian Church Mosgiel

8996

26 July 1920

Rev. D. Calder, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Bruce Johnstone Campbell	Isabella Thomson Graham
	💍 1920/9095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	11 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mosgiel
Folio	8996
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Calder, Presbyterian

2 August 1920

Charles Francis Wedge
Constance Annie Andrew

Charles Francis Wedge
Constance Annie Andrew
💍 1920/9096

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

38
24

Wingatui
Wingatui

11 years
24 years

Residence David Andrew Wingatui

8997

2 August 1920

Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	2 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Francis Wedge	Constance Annie Andrew
	💍 1920/9096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Wingatui	Wingatui
Length of Residence	11 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence David Andrew Wingatui
Folio	8997
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

17 August 1920

William Horner
Agnes Brown Finnie

William Korner
Agnes Brown Finnie
💍 1920/9097

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

37
29

Wingatui
Mosgiel

37 years
29 years

Residence of Mrs Finnie Ayr Street Mosgiel

8998

17 August 1920

Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	17 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Horner	Agnes Brown Finnie
BDM Match (96%)	William Korner	Agnes Brown Finnie
	💍 1920/9097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Wingatui	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	37 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Finnie Ayr Street Mosgiel
Folio	8998
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Brown, Presbyterian

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).