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 2063

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. C. Ennis

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

161

7 February 1920

Bartholomew Charles Sheehan
Katherine O'Sullivan

Bartholomew Charles Sheehan
Catherine O'Sullivan
💍 1920/3810

Bachelor
Spinster

Druggist

27
27

Wellington
Timaru

8 Months
Life

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2836

7 February 1920

Rev. N. Moloney, Roman Catholic

No	161
Date of Notice	7 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bartholomew Charles Sheehan	Katherine O'Sullivan
BDM Match (98%)	Bartholomew Charles Sheehan	Catherine O'Sullivan
	💍 1920/3810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Druggist
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 Months	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2836
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Moloney, Roman Catholic

162

7 February 1920

Joseph Daughney
Ida Lily Stephens

Joseph Daughney
Ida Lily Stephens
💍 1920/3192

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

633

7 February 1920

Registrar

No	162
Date of Notice	7 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Daughney	Ida Lily Stephens
	💍 1920/3192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	633
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

163

9 February 1920

Richard Wedderspoon
Margaret Mary Scarf

Richard Wedderspoon
Margaret Mary Scarf
💍 1920/3193

Bachelor
Widow 13/11/1918

Motor Mechanic

22
26

Island Bay
Island Bay

3 days
3 months

St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington

634

9 February 1920

Rev. G. C. Blathwayt, Anglican

No	163
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Wedderspoon	Margaret Mary Scarf
	💍 1920/3193
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 13/11/1918
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Island Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	634
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Blathwayt, Anglican

164

9 February 1920

Harry Godfrey Nicholas
Ethel May Aiken

Harry Godfrey Nicholsen
Ethel May Aiken
💍 1920/3170

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

635

9 February 1920

Rev. H. Beggs, Presbyterian

No	164
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Godfrey Nicholas	Ethel May Aiken
BDM Match (94%)	Harry Godfrey Nicholsen	Ethel May Aiken
	💍 1920/3170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	635
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs, Presbyterian

165

9 February 1920

William James McCullough
Olive Matha Pegley

William James McCullough
Olive Martha Pegley
💍 1920/3171

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

22
19

Wellington
Island Bay, Wellington

20 years
10 years

St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington

636

Rowland Howard Pegley, Father

9 February 1920

Rev G. C. Blathwayt, Anglican

No	165
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James McCullough	Olive Matha Pegley
BDM Match (97%)	William James McCullough	Olive Martha Pegley
	💍 1920/3171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Island Bay, Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	636
Consent	Rowland Howard Pegley, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G. C. Blathwayt, Anglican

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).