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 2077

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

226

24 February 1920

Clarence Frank Rose
Ellen Veronica Quinn

Clarence Frank Ross
Ellen Veronica Quinn
💍 1920/4321

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

20
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
4 years

St. Peter's Church

695

Frances May Healey formerly Rose, Mother; Emma Rebecca Quinn, Mother

24 February 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	226
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Frank Rose	Ellen Veronica Quinn
BDM Match (97%)	Clarence Frank Ross	Ellen Veronica Quinn
	💍 1920/4321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	695
Consent	Frances May Healey formerly Rose, Mother; Emma Rebecca Quinn, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

227

24 February 1920

Archibald James Hawke
Gladys Alfreda Smith

Archibald James Hawke
Gladys Alfreda Smith
💍 1920/4322

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

696

24 February 1920

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	227
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald James Hawke	Gladys Alfreda Smith
	💍 1920/4322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	696
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

228

24 February 1920

Robert Jameson Allender
Grace Stedman

Robert Jameson Allender
Grace Stedman
💍 1920/4323

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
7 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

697

William Walter Curtis Stedman, Father

24 February 1920

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	228
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Jameson Allender	Grace Stedman
	💍 1920/4323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	697
Consent	William Walter Curtis Stedman, Father
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

229

24 February 1920

William Charles Southee commonly known as Gough
Ivy Ellen McMillan

William Charles Gough
Ivy Ellen McMillan
💍 1920/4324

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

18
20

Petone
Petone

Life
17 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

698

Lillian Gough, Mother; John McMillan, Father

24 February 1920

Registrar

No	229
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Southee commonly known as Gough	Ivy Ellen McMillan
BDM Match (72%)	William Charles Gough	Ivy Ellen McMillan
	💍 1920/4324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	Life	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	698
Consent	Lillian Gough, Mother; John McMillan, Father
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

230

24 February 1920

William Horsfall
Helen Hannah Aston

William Horsfall
Helen Hannah Aston
💍 1920/4325

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

23
16

Seatoun
Newtown

2 years
2 years

Residence of bride's mother, 144 Coromandel Street, Newtown

699

Ellen Eileen Alma Violetta Aston, Mother

24 February 1920

Rev. W. Shirer

No	230
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Horsfall	Helen Hannah Aston
	💍 1920/4325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Seatoun	Newtown
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of bride's mother, 144 Coromandel Street, Newtown
Folio	699
Consent	Ellen Eileen Alma Violetta Aston, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).