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 2115

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar M. O'Connor

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

412

1 April 1920

William Aubrey Stevenson McCreevey (Commonly known as William Aubrey Stevenson)
Ellen Frances Hickey

William Aubrey Stevenson Stevenson
Ellen Frances Hickey
💍 1920/4025

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

32
23

Rona Bay
Kilbirnie

5 years
Life

Roman Catholic Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

3280

1 April 1920

Rev. T. Connolly, Roman Catholic

No	412
Date of Notice	1 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aubrey Stevenson McCreevey (Commonly known as William Aubrey Stevenson)	Ellen Frances Hickey
BDM Match (72%)	William Aubrey Stevenson Stevenson	Ellen Frances Hickey
	💍 1920/4025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Rona Bay	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	3280
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Connolly, Roman Catholic

413

1 April 1920

Thomas Phillip Davis
Rosina Emily Edwards

Thomas Phillip Davis
Rosina Emily Edwards
💍 1920/4026

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
23 years

St. Thomas' Church, Newtown, Wellington

3281

1 April 1920

Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	413
Date of Notice	1 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Phillip Davis	Rosina Emily Edwards
	💍 1920/4026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	3281
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

414

1 April 1920

Lionel Cleft Doile
Bonnie Annie Lawrie

Lionel Cleft Doile
Bonnie Annie Laurie
💍 1920/4027

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
4 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

3282

1 April 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

No	414
Date of Notice	1 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Cleft Doile	Bonnie Annie Lawrie
BDM Match (97%)	Lionel Cleft Doile	Bonnie Annie Laurie
	💍 1920/4027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	3282
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

415

4 April 1920

Arthur William Blanchard
Ellen McEnirney

Arthur William Blanchard
Ellen McEnirney
💍 1920/4028

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Builder

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
26 years

St. Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington

3283

4 April 1920

Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	415
Date of Notice	4 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Blanchard	Ellen McEnirney
	💍 1920/4028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Builder
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	3283
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

416

5 April 1920

William Joseph Dobbs
Florence Whittaker

William Joseph Dobbs
Florence Whitaker
💍 1920/4029

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
32 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

3284

5 April 1920

Rev. W. E. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	416
Date of Notice	5 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Dobbs	Florence Whittaker
BDM Match (97%)	William Joseph Dobbs	Florence Whitaker
	💍 1920/4029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	3284
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. O'Donnell, 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).