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 2191

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar R. E. Bennetts

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

485

9 July 1920

Barclay Greenwood Bell
Alma Maud Feast

Barclay Greenwood Bell
Alma Maud Feast
💍 1920/7282

Bachelor
Spinster

Mining Engineer

40
25

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
4 days

St Peter's Church, Wellington

6933

9 July 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	485
Date of Notice	9 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Barclay Greenwood Bell	Alma Maud Feast
	💍 1920/7282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mining Engineer
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	6933
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

486

12 July 1920

Ernest Leslie Collier
Susie Bellamy Clothier

Ernest Leslie Collier
Susie Bellamy Clothier
💍 1920/7283

Widower 7 September 1916
Spinster

Master Tailor

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Peter's Church, Wellington

6934

12 July 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	486
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Leslie Collier	Susie Bellamy Clothier
	💍 1920/7283
Condition	Widower 7 September 1916	Spinster
Profession	Master Tailor
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	6934
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

487

12 July 1920

Ernest Gordon Bennett
Elsie Ada Rangi Ruby Maynard

Ernest Gordon Bennett
Elsie Ada Rangi Ruby Maynard
💍 1920/7260

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller

23
21

Petone
Petone

3 days
Life

St Augustine's Church, Petone

6935

12 July 1920

Rev. J. G. T. Castle, Anglican

No	487
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Gordon Bennett	Elsie Ada Rangi Ruby Maynard
	💍 1920/7260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	6935
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. T. Castle, Anglican

488

12 July 1920

David Ginnane
Mary Agnes Henry

David Ginnane
Mary Agnes Henry
💍 1920/7261

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese-maker

29
22

Wellington
Miramar

10 days
1 year

St Patrick's Church, Kilbirnie

6936

12 July 1920

Rev. T. Connolly, Roman Catholic

No	488
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ginnane	Mary Agnes Henry
	💍 1920/7261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese-maker
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Miramar
Length of Residence	10 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	6936
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Connolly, Roman Catholic

489

12 July 1920

Duncan McKellar commonly known as Duncan McKellar Pollock
Christina Forfar Finlay

Duncan McKellar Pollock
Christina Forfar Finlay
💍 1920/7262

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger's Assistant

30
31

Wellington
Petone

Life
Life

Residence of Mrs J. Pollock, 156 Tasman Street, Wellington

6937

12 July 1920

Rev. G. E. Hale, Unitarian

No	489
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McKellar commonly known as Duncan McKellar Pollock	Christina Forfar Finlay
BDM Match (70%)	Duncan McKellar Pollock	Christina Forfar Finlay
	💍 1920/7262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger's Assistant
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Pollock, 156 Tasman Street, Wellington
Folio	6937
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale, Unitarian

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).