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 2053

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. G. Evans

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

111

29 January 1920

William Herbert Saunders
Adelaide Edith Baigent

William Herbert Saunders
Adelaide Edith Baigent
💍 1920/4308

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

32
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
X new arrival from abroad

St Marks Church Wellington

584

29 January 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican (Church of England)

No	111
Date of Notice	29 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Saunders	Adelaide Edith Baigent
	💍 1920/4308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	X new arrival from abroad
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Wellington
Folio	584
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican (Church of England)

112

30 January 1920

Henry George Stephen
Mary Ann Dormer

Henry George Stephen
Mary Ann Dormer
💍 1920/4285

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge Hand

32
40

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
40 years

Methodist Church Thorndon Wellington

585

30 January 1920

Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

No	112
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Stephen	Mary Ann Dormer
	💍 1920/4285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge Hand
Age	32	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	40 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thorndon Wellington
Folio	585
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

113

30 January 1920

Archibald James Glen
May Warner

Archibald James Glen
May Warner
💍 1920/4286

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
23

Wellington
Mitchelltown Wellington

5 years
23 years

St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington

586

30 January 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican (Church of England)

No	113
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald James Glen	May Warner
	💍 1920/4286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Mitchelltown Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	586
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican (Church of England)

114

30 January 1920

Bertram Egley
Cornelia Desmond Mahoney

Bertram Egley
Cornelia Desmond Mahoney
💍 1920/4287

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
3 years

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

587

30 January 1920

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican (Church of England)

No	114
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Egley	Cornelia Desmond Mahoney
	💍 1920/4287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	587
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican (Church of England)

115

30 January 1920

Armit Willard Stead
Bessie Woodley Millar

Armit Willard Stead
Bessie Woodley Millar
💍 1920/4288

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

22
22

Wellington
Hataitai

12 months
12 months

Methodist Church Hataitai Wellington

588

30 January 1920

Rev. F. J. Read, Methodist

No	115
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Armit Willard Stead	Bessie Woodley Millar
	💍 1920/4288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hataitai
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hataitai Wellington
Folio	588
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Read, Methodist

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).