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 1941

District of Taihape Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. P. Mandahl

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

3 January 1920

William Ernest Bowden
Margaret Ellen Sinclair

William Ernest Bowden
Margaret Helen Sinclair
💍 1920/3428

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Household

28
20

Taihape
Mataroa

3 days
1 year

St Margaret's Church of England Taihape

1727

John Sinclair, Father

3 January 1920

Rev. W. F. Stent, St Margarets Taihape

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Bowden	Margaret Ellen Sinclair
BDM Match (96%)	William Ernest Bowden	Margaret Helen Sinclair
	💍 1920/3428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Household
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Mataroa
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Margaret's Church of England Taihape
Folio	1727
Consent	John Sinclair, Father
Date of Certificate	3 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, St Margarets Taihape

15 January 1920

Isaac Underwood
Ilie Wardle

Isaac Underwood
Alice Wardle
💍 1920/3435

Bachelor
Widow (26-11-06)

Teamster
Domestic

35
40

Taihape
Taihape

10 years
20 years

The Office of the Registrar Taihape

1728

15 January 1920

J. P. Mandahl, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Underwood	Ilie Wardle
BDM Match (92%)	Isaac Underwood	Alice Wardle
	💍 1920/3435
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (26-11-06)
Profession	Teamster	Domestic
Age	35	40
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar Taihape
Folio	1728
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J. P. Mandahl, Registrar

16 January 1920

William Jeffery
Mary Agnes Mullins

William Jeffery
Mary Agnes Mullins
💍 1920/3436

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Household duties

28
22

Taihape
Taihape

2 years
10 years

St Marys R. C. Church Taihape

1729

16 January 1920

Rev. Father Minogue, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jeffery	Mary Agnes Mullins
	💍 1920/3436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Household duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Marys R. C. Church Taihape
Folio	1729
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Minogue, Roman Catholic

23 January 1920

Arthur Cornelius Rees
Victoria Maud Nicholson

Arthur Cornelius Rees
Victoria Maud Nicholson
💍 1920/3437

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

22
22

Taihape
Taihape

4 days
1 year

In Residence of the Brides Father, Kaitieke, Taihape

1730

23 January 1920

Rev. Father Minogue, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cornelius Rees	Victoria Maud Nicholson
	💍 1920/3437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	In Residence of the Brides Father, Kaitieke, Taihape
Folio	1730
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Minogue, Roman Catholic

31 January 1920

John Stodart
Mary Elizabeth Eileen Troy

John Stodart
Mary Elizabeth Eileen Troy
💍 1920/3438

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

28
22

Taihape
Mataroa

26 years
21 years

St Marys R. C. Church Taihape

1731

31 January 1920

Rev. Father Minogue, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stodart	Mary Elizabeth Eileen Troy
	💍 1920/3438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Mataroa
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Marys R. C. Church Taihape
Folio	1731
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Minogue, Roman Catholic

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).