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 1909

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar J. James

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

Philip Sydney Chalk
Mary Christensen

Philip Sydney Chalk
Mary Christensen
💍 1920/8639

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Cleaner
Domestic

19
18

Marton Junction
Crofton

21 months
Lifetime

At the residence of Mr Mads Christensen, Crofton

8596

Philemon Chalk, father; Mads Christensen, father

1 July 1920

Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	1 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Sydney Chalk	Mary Christensen
	💍 1920/8639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Cleaner	Domestic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Marton Junction	Crofton
Length of Residence	21 months	Lifetime
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr Mads Christensen, Crofton
Folio	8596
Consent	Philemon Chalk, father; Mads Christensen, father
Date of Certificate	1 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

20 July 1920

William John Pearse
Dora Cargill Joss

William John Pearse
Dora Cargill Joss
💍 1920/8640

Widower (10 September 1918)
Spinster

Builder
Teacher

55
38

Feilding
Turakina

1 year
3 days

Presbyterian church manse, Turakina

8597

20 July 1920

Rev. James Wilson, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Pearse	Dora Cargill Joss
	💍 1920/8640
Condition	Widower (10 September 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Teacher
Age	55	38
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Turakina
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church manse, Turakina
Folio	8597
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Wilson, Presbyterian

23 July 1920

Francis Hedley Holdaway
Marion Waddell Muir

Francis Hedley Holdaway
Marion Waddell Muir
💍 1920/8641

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Clerk

29
30

Marton
Marton

10 years
3 days

Dwelling of Thomas Bernard Holdaway, Tutaenui Rd, Marton

8598

23 July 1920

Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hedley Holdaway	Marion Waddell Muir
	💍 1920/8641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Clerk
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Bernard Holdaway, Tutaenui Rd, Marton
Folio	8598
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

24 July 1920

Isaac Montgomery
Mary Quittenden

Isaac Montgomery
Mary Quittenden
💍 1920/8642

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

32
21

Marton
Marton

2 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Marton

8599

24 July 1920

Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Montgomery	Mary Quittenden
	💍 1920/8642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Marton
Folio	8599
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

26 July 1920

Albert Joseph Willis
Ina Hadassah Reeves

Albert Joseph Willis
Ina Hadassah Reeves
💍 1920/8643

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker
Domestic

24
26

Marton
Marton

8 months
6 months

St Stephen's Church, Marton

8600

26 July 1920

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Anglican

No	40
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Joseph Willis	Ina Hadassah Reeves
	💍 1920/8643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Marton
Folio	8600
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Anglican

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).