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 2121

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar F. R. Coombs

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

441

8 April 1920

George Phillips
Nikki Coffey

George Phillips
Wicki Coffey
💍 1920/2490

Widower
Spinster

Tobacconist

45
19

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

5 years
8 years

Residence of Mrs Phillips, Herald Street, Wellington

3309

Patrick Coffey (Father)

8 April 1920

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	441
Date of Notice	8 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Phillips	Nikki Coffey
BDM Match (92%)	George Phillips	Wicki Coffey
	💍 1920/2490
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	45	19
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Phillips, Herald Street, Wellington
Folio	3309
Consent	Patrick Coffey (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

442

9 April 1920

Percival Banks Weldon
Doris Margaret Claremont McClelland

Percival Banks Weldon
Doris Margaret Claremont McClelland
💍 1920/2467

Bachelor
Spinster

Advertising Traveller

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

3310

9 April 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	442
Date of Notice	9 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Banks Weldon	Doris Margaret Claremont McClelland
	💍 1920/2467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Advertising Traveller
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	3310
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

443

9 April 1920

Carl Olsen
Agnes Mary Mitchell

Carl Olsen
Agnes Mary Mitchell
💍 1920/2468

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
37

Trentham
Trentham

1 year
4 days

Residence of Mrs G. H. Williams, Trentham

3311

9 April 1920

Rev. A Hardie, Presbyterian

No	443
Date of Notice	9 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Olsen	Agnes Mary Mitchell
	💍 1920/2468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	1 year	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs G. H. Williams, Trentham
Folio	3311
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A Hardie, Presbyterian

444

9 April 1920

Harry Jackson
Lilian Madalene Pearce

Harry Jackson
Lilian Madalene Pearce
💍 1920/2469

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
6 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

3312

9 April 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	444
Date of Notice	9 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Jackson	Lilian Madalene Pearce
	💍 1920/2469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	3312
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

445

10 April 1920

Percy Harold Barton
Mary Clarissa Josephine Summers

Percy Harold Barton
Mary Clarissa Josephine Summers
💍 1920/2470

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

35
38

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
4 years

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

3313

10 April 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	445
Date of Notice	10 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Harold Barton	Mary Clarissa Josephine Summers
	💍 1920/2470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	35	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	3313
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, 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).