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 2049

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. A. Eden

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

24 January 1920

Gerald James Farent Payne
Doris Florence Rodgers

Gerald James Farent Payne
Doris Florence Rodgers
💍 1920/3075

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
22

Wellington
Kilbirnie

6 months
15 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

565

24 January 1920

Rev. A. J. B. Page, Anglican Church of England

No	91
Date of Notice	24 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald James Farent Payne	Doris Florence Rodgers
	💍 1920/3075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	6 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	565
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. B. Page, Anglican Church of England

24 January 1920

Joseph Nevil Bell
Emily Maud Edkins

Joseph Nevil Bell
Emily Maud Edkins
💍 1920/3076

Widower 8/4/1912
Widow 3/11/1915

Green-grocer

39
40

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
8 years

St. James' Manse, Wellington South

566

24 January 1920

Rev. W. Shirer, (Presbyterian)

No	92
Date of Notice	24 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Nevil Bell	Emily Maud Edkins
	💍 1920/3076
Condition	Widower 8/4/1912	Widow 3/11/1915
Profession	Green-grocer
Age	39	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Manse, Wellington South
Folio	566
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, (Presbyterian)

26 January 1920

William Henry Fitzer
Annie Louise Tonner

William Henry Fitzer
Annie Louise Tonner
💍 1920/3077

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

32
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
27 years

St Anne's Church Newtown Wellington

567

26 January 1920

Rev. M. Devoy, (Roman Catholic)

No	93
Date of Notice	26 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Fitzer	Annie Louise Tonner
	💍 1920/3077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	567
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy, (Roman Catholic)

27 January 1920

James McQuilkan
Josephine Joanna Mannix

James McQuilkan
Josephine Joanna Mannix
💍 1920/3078

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

37
28

Petone
Petone

9 days
9 days

Roman Catholic Church Petone

568

27 January 1920

Rev. P. Quealy, (Roman Catholic)

No	94
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McQuilkan	Josephine Joanna Mannix
	💍 1920/3078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	9 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Petone
Folio	568
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Quealy, (Roman Catholic)

27 January 1920

James Gibson Gow
Dagmar Jacobsen

James Gibson Gow
Dagmar Jacobsen
💍 1920/3079

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

38
26

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
2 years

St Peter's Church Willis street Wellington

569

27 January 1920

Rev. T. J. Taylor, Anglican Church of England

No	95
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gibson Gow	Dagmar Jacobsen
	💍 1920/3079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Willis street Wellington
Folio	569
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. Taylor, Anglican Church of England

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).