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 3829

District of Riverton 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

15/20

26 July 1920

John Richard McNaughton
Evelyn Marion Stuart

John Richard McNaughton
Evelyn Marion Stuart
💍 1920/9150

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Riverton
Riverton

25 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church Riverton

9179

John Stuart, father

26 July 1920

Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

No	15/20
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard McNaughton	Evelyn Marion Stuart
	💍 1920/9150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Riverton
Folio	9179
Consent	John Stuart, father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

16/20

26 July 1920

Thomas Haven Molloy
Muriel Winifred Phillipson

Thomas Haven Molloy
Muriel Winifred Phillipson
💍 1920/9151

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Gummies Bush
Gummies Bush

23 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Riverton

9180

John Henry Phillipson, Father

26 July 1920

H. A. Hansell, Registrar

No	16/20
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Haven Molloy	Muriel Winifred Phillipson
	💍 1920/9151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gummies Bush	Gummies Bush
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Riverton
Folio	9180
Consent	John Henry Phillipson, Father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	H. A. Hansell, Registrar

17/20

27 July 1920

George Wallace Parmenter
Ethel May Rose

George Wallace Parmenter
Ethel May Rose
💍 1920/9152

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

22
22

Middlemarch
Riverton

4 days
22 years

Residence of Mr. S. Bailey, Riverton

9181

27 July 1920

Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

No	17/20
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wallace Parmenter	Ethel May Rose
	💍 1920/9152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Middlemarch	Riverton
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. S. Bailey, Riverton
Folio	9181
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

18/20

27 July 1920

Patrick Forde
Kathleen Winifred O'Connell

Patrick Forde
Kathleen Winifred O'Connell
💍 1920/9153

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housemaid

33
23

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Riverton

9182

27 July 1920

Rev. Father D. P. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	18/20
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Forde	Kathleen Winifred O'Connell
	💍 1920/9153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housemaid
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Riverton
Folio	9182
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father D. P. Buckley, Roman Catholic

19/20

16 August 1920

Vivian Taiaroa Fail
Amy Lilian Austin

Vivian Taiaroa Fail
Amy Lilian Austin
💍 1920/9154

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Nurse

22
26

Tuatapere
Riverton

-
7 days

Presbyterian Church Riverton

9183

16 August 1920

Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

No	19/20
Date of Notice	16 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Taiaroa Fail	Amy Lilian Austin
	💍 1920/9154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Nurse
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Tuatapere	Riverton
Length of Residence	-	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Riverton
Folio	9183
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray, 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).