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 1917

District of Rongotea Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. A. Ballander

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

4 February 1920

William Edward Hunt
Florence Muriel Matheson

William Edward Hunt
Florence Muriel Matheson
💍 1920/3451

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
20

Rongotea
Rongotea

20 years
19 years

Residence of R. M. Matheson, Rongotea

1718

Ronald McDonald Matheson, Father

4 February 1920

Rev. D. B. Forde Carlisle, Palmerston North Undenominational Mission

No	1
Date of Notice	4 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Hunt	Florence Muriel Matheson
	💍 1920/3451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. M. Matheson, Rongotea
Folio	1718
Consent	Ronald McDonald Matheson, Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. B. Forde Carlisle, Palmerston North Undenominational Mission

20 February 1920

Owen John Nickie
Amy Katherine Violet Rowe

Owen John Dickie
Amy Kathleen Violet Rowe
💍 1920/3405

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
23

Palmerston North
Rongotea

3 days
Life

Kosy Lecture Hall, Palmerston North

1671

20 February 1920

Rev. D. B. Forde Carlisle, Palmerston North Undenominational Mission

No	2
Date of Notice	20 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen John Nickie	Amy Katherine Violet Rowe
BDM Match (89%)	Owen John Dickie	Amy Kathleen Violet Rowe
	💍 1920/3405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Rongotea
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Kosy Lecture Hall, Palmerston North
Folio	1671
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. B. Forde Carlisle, Palmerston North Undenominational Mission

15 March 1920

Arthur Coubray
Roseleen Elizabeth Baylis

Arthur Coubray
Roseleen Elizabeth Baylis
💍 1920/3452

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Household duties

23
21

Rongotea
Rongotea

3 years
Life

Church of England, Rongotea

1719

15 March 1920

Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Coubray	Roseleen Elizabeth Baylis
	💍 1920/3452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Household duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Rongotea
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rongotea
Folio	1719
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

16 March 1920

William Thomas Noak
Selina Mary Gibbs

William Thomas Doak
Selina Mary Gibbs
💍 1920/3454

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

31
23

Kaimatarau
Kaimatarau

5 days
3 weeks

Church of England, Rongotea

1720

16 March 1920

Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Noak	Selina Mary Gibbs
BDM Match (97%)	William Thomas Doak	Selina Mary Gibbs
	💍 1920/3454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Kaimatarau	Kaimatarau
Length of Residence	5 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rongotea
Folio	1720
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

19 March 1920

Clifford Herbert Hingston
Beatrice Mary Ellen Rowe

Clifford Herbert Hingston
Beatrice Mary Ellen Rowe
💍 1920/4810

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

24
22

Palmerston North
Rongotea

3 days
Life

Kosy Lecture Hall, Palmerston North

1686

19 March 1920

Rev. D. B. Forde Carlisle, Palmerston North Undenominational Mission

No	5
Date of Notice	19 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Herbert Hingston	Beatrice Mary Ellen Rowe
	💍 1920/4810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Rongotea
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Kosy Lecture Hall, Palmerston North
Folio	1686
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. B. Forde Carlisle, Palmerston North Undenominational Mission

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).