Intentions to Marry, 1920 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840492, 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.

1920e contains pages 1885-2344, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1893

District of Raetihi Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar A. W. Ashwell

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

28 January 1920

James Switzer Ashmore
Constance Morris

James Switzer Ashmore
Constance Morris
💍 1920/32

Bachelor
Widow (22/11/18)

Farmer
Household duties

35
27

Raetihi
Raetihi

10 years
3 months

Dwelling house of Mrs W. H. Austin, Raetihi

1701

28 January 1920

Rev. W. S. Weller

No	1
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Switzer Ashmore	Constance Morris
	💍 1920/32
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (22/11/18)
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	10 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs W. H. Austin, Raetihi
Folio	1701
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Weller

2 February 1920

Alfred Enoch Johansen
Susan Ellen Mossen

Alfred Enoch Johansen
Susan Ellen Mosen
💍 1920/3453

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic duties

22
20

Solletts Mill, Raetihi
Solletts Mill, Raetihi

6 years
3 years

Methodist Church Raetihi

1702

Albert Edward Mossen (Father)

2 February 1920

Rev. W. S. Neal

No	2
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Enoch Johansen	Susan Ellen Mossen
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Enoch Johansen	Susan Ellen Mosen
	💍 1920/3453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Solletts Mill, Raetihi	Solletts Mill, Raetihi
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Raetihi
Folio	1702
Consent	Albert Edward Mossen (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Neal

3 February 1920

Lore Bell
Naomi Chase

Tore Bell
Naomi Chase
💍 1920/77

Divorced (decree absolute 27th July 1919)
Spinster

Taxi driver
Domestic duties

26
20

Raetihi
Raetihi

From birth
From birth

Dwelling of Rev. W. S. Neal, Raetihi

1703

Poihipi Eruera Chase (Father)

3 February 1920

Rev. W. S. Neal

No	3
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lore Bell	Naomi Chase
BDM Match (94%)	Tore Bell	Naomi Chase
	💍 1920/77
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 27th July 1919)	Spinster
Profession	Taxi driver	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	From birth	From birth
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev. W. S. Neal, Raetihi
Folio	1703
Consent	Poihipi Eruera Chase (Father)
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Neal

23 February 1920

Bertie Leonard Gordon Cole
Bertha Rosetta Thomas

Bertie Leonard Gordon Cole
Bertha Rosetta Thomas
💍 1920/3461

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
25

Raetihi
Raetihi

6 years
6 months

Methodist Church Raetihi

1704

23 February 1920

Rev. W. S. Neal

No	4
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Leonard Gordon Cole	Bertha Rosetta Thomas
	💍 1920/3461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Raetihi
Folio	1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Neal

13 March 1920

Lawrence Joseph Lowers
Edith Elizabeth Brown

Lawrence Joseph Towers
Edith Elizabeth Brown
💍 1920/3462

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Dressmaker

25
21

Raetihi
Raetihi

8 months
14 years

Presbyterian Church Raetihi

1705

13 March 1920

Rev. Wm. Morton

No	5
Date of Notice	13 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Joseph Lowers	Edith Elizabeth Brown
BDM Match (98%)	Lawrence Joseph Towers	Edith Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1920/3462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Dressmaker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	8 months	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Raetihi
Folio	1705
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Morton

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).