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 2127

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar R. C. 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

471

13 April 1920

Hugh Cowan
Florence Abbott

Hugh Cowan
Florence Abbott
💍 1920/5554

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Lineman

33
31

Wellington
Kilbirnie

9 months
2 days (Arrived from abroad)

Residence of Mr W. Cowan, 91 Overtoun Terrace, Kilbirnie, Wellington

3338

13 April 1920

Rev. H. Beggs, Presbyterian

No	471
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Cowan	Florence Abbott
	💍 1920/5554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Lineman
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	9 months	2 days (Arrived from abroad)
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Cowan, 91 Overtoun Terrace, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	3338
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs, Presbyterian

472

14 April 1920

William Charles Aitken
Ellen Elizabeth Hilton

William Charles Aitken
Ellen Elizabeth Wilton
💍 1920/5555

William Cecil Aitken
Elizabeth McAllan
💍 1920/489

Widower 1/8/1914
Spinster

Beekeeper

36
40

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
Life

Residence of Mr B. W. Hilton, Priscilla Crescent, Berhampore, Wellington

3339

14 April 1920

Rev. T. K. Ewen, Baptist

No	472
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Aitken	Ellen Elizabeth Hilton
BDM Match (98%)	William Charles Aitken	Ellen Elizabeth Wilton
	💍 1920/5555
BDM Match (64%)	William Cecil Aitken	Elizabeth McAllan
	💍 1920/489
Condition	Widower 1/8/1914	Spinster
Profession	Beekeeper
Age	36	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr B. W. Hilton, Priscilla Crescent, Berhampore, Wellington
Folio	3339
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. K. Ewen, Baptist

473

14 April 1920

Fred Watson Grayburn
Vera Maud Chalmers

Fred Watson Grayburn
Vera Maud Chalmers
💍 1920/5556

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Geraldine
Wellington

15 years
25 years

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

3340

14 April 1920

Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	473
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Watson Grayburn	Vera Maud Chalmers
	💍 1920/5556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	25 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	3340
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

474

14 April 1920

William Patrick Monteith
Gladys Constance Hartog

William Patrick Monteith
Gladys Constance Hartog
💍 1920/5557

Widower 16/2/1916
Widow 25/12/1918

Brewer

36
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

3341

14 April 1920

Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	474
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Patrick Monteith	Gladys Constance Hartog
	💍 1920/5557
Condition	Widower 16/2/1916	Widow 25/12/1918
Profession	Brewer
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	3341
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

475

15 April 1920

John Towers
Violet Evelyn Earle

John Towers
Violet Evelyn Earle
💍 1920/5558

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
24

Lower Hutt
Wellington

6 years
Life

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

3342

15 April 1920

Rev. J. R. Glasson, Congregational

No	475
Date of Notice	15 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Towers	Violet Evelyn Earle
	💍 1920/5558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	3342
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Glasson, Congregational

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).