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 3845

District of Winton Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar H. McLeod

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 July 1920

William John Keith
Gladys Ivenia Barden

William John Keith
Gladys Ivenia Barden
💍 1920/9136

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
25

Centrebush
Centrebush

25 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church Centre Bush

9188

1 July 1920

Rev. R. Morgan, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	1 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Keith	Gladys Ivenia Barden
	💍 1920/9136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Centrebush	Centrebush
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Centre Bush
Folio	9188
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Morgan, Presbyterian

22 July 1920

Daniel Francis Sullivan
Kathleen Annie Frances Nordmann

Daniel Francis Sullivan
Kathleen Annie Frances Nordmann
💍 1920/9137

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
23

Browns
Browns

4 days
2 months

Roman Catholic Church Winton

9189

22 July 1920

Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Francis Sullivan	Kathleen Annie Frances Nordmann
	💍 1920/9137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Browns	Browns
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Winton
Folio	9189
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

31 July 1920

Adam Scott Turnbull
Jane Gray

Adam Scott Turnbull
Jane Gray
💍 1920/9067

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
37

Centre Bush
Invercargill

40 months
5 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Invercargill

9117

31 July 1920

Rev. C. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	31 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Scott Turnbull	Jane Gray
	💍 1920/9067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	37
Dwelling Place	Centre Bush	Invercargill
Length of Residence	40 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Invercargill
Folio	9117
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Gardiner, Presbyterian

2 August 1920

John Poole
Margaret Edith Casey

John Poole
Margaret Edith Casey
💍 1920/9138

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

24
21

Centre Bush
Centrebush

2 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church Centrebush

9190

2 August 1920

Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	19
Date of Notice	2 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Poole	Margaret Edith Casey
	💍 1920/9138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Centre Bush	Centrebush
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Centrebush
Folio	9190
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

20 August 1920

George Alexander Ridder
Muriel Sybil King

George Alexander Ridder
Muriel Sybil King
💍 1920/9139

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
21

Springhills
Springhills

5 days
3 years

Dwelling house of George King Springhills

9191

20 August 1920

Rev. G. Wallace, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	20 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Ridder	Muriel Sybil King
	💍 1920/9139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Springhills	Springhills
Length of Residence	5 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of George King Springhills
Folio	9191
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Wallace, 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).