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 2057

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. 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

131

2 February 1920

Ernest Cleveland Johnston
Alice Gertrude Lea

Ernest Cleveland Johnston
Alice Gertrude Lee
💍 1920/3138

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
23

Ngahauranga
Wellington

2 months
3 months

Methodist Parsonage Brooklyn Wellington

604

2 February 1920

Rev. J. H. White, Methodist

No	131
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Cleveland Johnston	Alice Gertrude Lea
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Cleveland Johnston	Alice Gertrude Lee
	💍 1920/3138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Ngahauranga	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage Brooklyn Wellington
Folio	604
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. White, Methodist

132

2 February 1920

Silas James Davies
Mabel Grace Ofsoski

Silas James Davies
Mabel Grace Ofroski
💍 1920/3139

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
7 years

Church of Christ Rintoul Street Wellington

605

2 February 1920

Mr. F. J. Marshall, Church of Christ

No	132
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silas James Davies	Mabel Grace Ofsoski
BDM Match (97%)	Silas James Davies	Mabel Grace Ofroski
	💍 1920/3139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Rintoul Street Wellington
Folio	605
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. F. J. Marshall, Church of Christ

133

2 February 1920

James Millar
Dorothy Beatrice Goodall

James Millar
Dorothy Beatrice Goodall
💍 1920/3140

Bachelor
Spinster

Policeman

26
19

Wellington
Karori

6 months
4 months

Methodist Church Karori Wellington

606

David John Goodall Father

2 February 1920

Rev. E. R. Warburton, Methodist

No	133
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Millar	Dorothy Beatrice Goodall
	💍 1920/3140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Policeman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Karori Wellington
Folio	606
Consent	David John Goodall Father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Warburton, Methodist

134

2 February 1920

Henry Clarence Searle McLennan
Ethel Ernestine Flaws

Henry Clarence Searle McLennan
Ethel Ernestine Flaws
💍 1920/3141

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

27
25

Wellington
Kaiwarra

19 years
25 years

Methodist Church Thorndon Wellington

607

2 February 1920

Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

No	134
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clarence Searle McLennan	Ethel Ernestine Flaws
	💍 1920/3141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kaiwarra
Length of Residence	19 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thorndon Wellington
Folio	607
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

135

2 February 1920

Walter Leonard Tattle
Eileen Constance Graves

Walter Leonard Tattle
Eileen Constance Graves
💍 1920/3142

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

29
29

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

St Paul's Pro cathedral Wellington

608

2 February 1920

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

No	135
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Leonard Tattle	Eileen Constance Graves
	💍 1920/3142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro cathedral Wellington
Folio	608
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, 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).