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 2065

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. O. 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

171

9 February 1920

Samuel Johnstone Greer
Margaret Cornelia Amyes

Samuel Johnstone Greer
Margaret Cornelia Amyes
💍 1920/3176

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

42
32

Town Flat
Petone

42 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Nelson Street, Petone

641

9 February 1920

Rev C Blair, Methodist

No	171
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Johnstone Greer	Margaret Cornelia Amyes
	💍 1920/3176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Town Flat	Petone
Length of Residence	42 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Nelson Street, Petone
Folio	641
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C Blair, Methodist

172

9 February 1920

Arthur Falconer Baudinet
Emma Elizabeth Wilson

Arthur Falconer Bandinet
Emma Elizabeth Wilson
💍 1920/3177

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree Absolute 24 August 1914

Cashier

35
45

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
11 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

642

9 February 1920

Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	172
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Falconer Baudinet	Emma Elizabeth Wilson
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Falconer Bandinet	Emma Elizabeth Wilson
	💍 1920/3177
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree Absolute 24 August 1914
Profession	Cashier
Age	35	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	642
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

173

9 February 1920

John Prendergast
Winifred Erica Howell Jew

John Prendergast
Winifred Erica Howell Tew
💍 1920/3178

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
38

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Thorndon, Wellington

643

9 February 1920

Rev F L Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	173
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Prendergast	Winifred Erica Howell Jew
BDM Match (98%)	John Prendergast	Winifred Erica Howell Tew
	💍 1920/3178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thorndon, Wellington
Folio	643
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev F L Dignan, Roman Catholic

174

10 February 1920

Albert Benjamin Card
Doris May Ayling

Albert Benjamin Card
Doris May Ayling
💍 1920/3179

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

27
22

Wellington
Kilbirnie

27 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

644

10 February 1920

Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	174
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Benjamin Card	Doris May Ayling
	💍 1920/3179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	27 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	644
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

175

11 February 1920

Mortimer Hishon
Kathleen Byrne

Mortimor Hishon
Kathleen Byrne
💍 1920/5489

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 years

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

3171

11 February 1920

Rev T Segrief, Roman Catholic

No	175
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mortimer Hishon	Kathleen Byrne
BDM Match (97%)	Mortimor Hishon	Kathleen Byrne
	💍 1920/5489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	3171
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev T Segrief, 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).