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 2079

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

236

26 February 1920

Arthur Bert Petersen
Mary Elizabeth Ann Simpson

Arthur Burt Petersen
Mary Elizabeth Ann Simpson
💍 1920/4354

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 22 December 1919

Electrician

28
31

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

705

26 February 1920

Registrar

No	236
Date of Notice	26 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bert Petersen	Mary Elizabeth Ann Simpson
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Burt Petersen	Mary Elizabeth Ann Simpson
	💍 1920/4354
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 22 December 1919
Profession	Electrician
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	705
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

237

27 February 1920

George Albert Edward Dyer
Olive Phillips

George Albert Edward Dyer
Olive Phillips
💍 1920/4355

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

24
26

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
26 years

St. James' Church Adelaide Road Wellington

706

27 February 1920

Rev. W. Shirer Presbyterian

No	237
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Edward Dyer	Olive Phillips
	💍 1920/4355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	706
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer Presbyterian

238

27 February 1920

Kenneth Elton Shorney
Doris Margaret Kirker

Kenneth Elton Shorney
Doris Margaret Kirker
💍 1920/4356

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
21

Hataitai
Kelburn

14 years
21 years

St. Andrews Church The Terrace Wellington

707

27 February 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

No	238
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Elton Shorney	Doris Margaret Kirker
	💍 1920/4356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hataitai	Kelburn
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church The Terrace Wellington
Folio	707
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

239

28 February 1920

Edgar John Simpson
Harriet Adeline Jillett

Edgar John Simpson
Harriet Adeline Jillett
💍 1920/4357

Bachelor
Widow 24/2/1919

messenger

48
37

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
36 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

708

28 February 1920

Registrar

No	239
Date of Notice	28 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar John Simpson	Harriet Adeline Jillett
	💍 1920/4357
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 24/2/1919
Profession	messenger
Age	48	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	708
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

240

28 February 1920

Ernest Marshall Gallagher
Frances Taylor

Ernest Marshall Gallagher
Frances Taylor
💍 1920/4358

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
4 years

St. Anne's Church Newtown

709

28 February 1920

Rev. T. McKenna Roman Catholic

No	240
Date of Notice	28 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Marshall Gallagher	Frances Taylor
	💍 1920/4358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church Newtown
Folio	709
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McKenna 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).