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 2137

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar [illegible]

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

521

29 April 1920

Walter Roper
Antoinette Young Howden

Walter Roper
Antoinette Young Howden
💍 1920/4213

Widower 10 July 1906
Spinster

Plumber

39
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 day (arrived from abroad)

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

3387

29 April 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	521
Date of Notice	29 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Roper	Antoinette Young Howden
	💍 1920/4213
Condition	Widower 10 July 1906	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day (arrived from abroad)
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	3387
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

522

29 April 1920

Archibald Stormont
Catherine Carney

Archibald Stormont
Catherine Carney
💍 1920/4214

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Pastrycook

28
35

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
1 month

Residence of Rev. G. E. Hale 153 Ghuznee Street Wellington

3388

29 April 1920

Rev. G. E. Hale, Unitarian

No	522
Date of Notice	29 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Stormont	Catherine Carney
	💍 1920/4214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Pastrycook
Age	28	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. E. Hale 153 Ghuznee Street Wellington
Folio	3388
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale, Unitarian

523

29 April 1920

Michael John Flynn
Lillie McBride

Michael John Flynn
Lillie McBride
💍 1920/4215

Bachelor
Widow 4 April 1916

Farmer

43
35

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

3389

29 April 1920

Registrar

No	523
Date of Notice	29 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael John Flynn	Lillie McBride
	💍 1920/4215
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 4 April 1916
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	3389
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

524

29 April 1920

James Nolan
Margaret Mary Hickey

James Nolan
Margaret Mary Hickey
💍 1920/4216

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
33

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
10 years

St. Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

3390

29 April 1920

Rev. J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

No	524
Date of Notice	29 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nolan	Margaret Mary Hickey
	💍 1920/4216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	3390
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

525

29 April 1920

Noble Frank Rowndes
Mary Hennessy

Noble Frank Lowndes
Mary Hennesy
💍 1920/10167

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Matthew's Church Brooklyn Wellington

3285

29 April 1920

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	525
Date of Notice	29 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noble Frank Rowndes	Mary Hennessy
BDM Match (94%)	Noble Frank Lowndes	Mary Hennesy
	💍 1920/10167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Brooklyn Wellington
Folio	3285
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, 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).