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 2211

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar P. C. Corliss

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

885

27 July 1920

Albert John Windley
Coral Elba Boon

Albert John Windley
Coral Elva Boon
💍 1920/7353

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand

21
19

Porirua
Pahautanui

Life
18 years

St Albans Church, Pahautanui

7029

Susan Harris (formerly Boon) Mother

27 July 1920

Rev. W. H. Walton Anglican

No	885
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Windley	Coral Elba Boon
BDM Match (97%)	Albert John Windley	Coral Elva Boon
	💍 1920/7353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	Life	18 years
Marriage Place	St Albans Church, Pahautanui
Folio	7029
Consent	Susan Harris (formerly Boon) Mother
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Walton Anglican

886

27 July 1920

Earle Spencer Knowles
Dorothy Alice Bourke

Earle Spencer Knowles
Dorothy Alice Bourke
💍 1920/7354

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Mark's Church, Wellington

7030

27 July 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page Anglican

No	886
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Earle Spencer Knowles	Dorothy Alice Bourke
	💍 1920/7354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	7030
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page Anglican

887

27 July 1920

John Douglas Henry
Louisa Florence Scorringi

John Douglas Henry
Louisa Florence Scorringi
💍 1920/7355

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

30
23

Petone
Petone

30 years
4 years

Residence of bridegroom's parent 25 Hutt Road Petone

7031

27 July 1920

Rev. J. A. McKenzie Presbyterian

No	887
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas Henry	Louisa Florence Scorringi
	💍 1920/7355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of bridegroom's parent 25 Hutt Road Petone
Folio	7031
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. McKenzie Presbyterian

888

27 July 1920

William Henry Beaton
Mary Agnes Capper

William Henry Beatson
Mary Agnes Capper
💍 1920/7356

William George
Mary Ann Capper
💍 1920/4650

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

41
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
31 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7032

27 July 1920

Deputy Registrar

No	888
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Beaton	Mary Agnes Capper
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Beatson	Mary Agnes Capper
	💍 1920/7356
BDM Match (69%)	William George	Mary Ann Capper
	💍 1920/4650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7032
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

889

27 July 1920

Samuel Senior
Marion Clara Sutcliffe

Samuel Senior
Marion Clara Sutcliffe
💍 1920/7357

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder

44
41

Wellington
Wellington

15 days
10 days

Residence of Rev. G. H. Hale, Ghuznee Street Wellington

7033

27 July 1920

Rev. G. H. Hale Unitarian

No	889
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Senior	Marion Clara Sutcliffe
	💍 1920/7357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder
Age	44	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. H. Hale, Ghuznee Street Wellington
Folio	7033
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. 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).