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 2205

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

855

23 July 1920

Neville William Allan Newbold
Ivy May Colvin

Neville William Allan Newbold
Ivy May Colvin
💍 1920/6023

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
2 years

Salvation Army Hall, Constable Street, Wellington

7000

23 July 1920

Commr. H. C. Hodder, Salvation Army

No	855
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neville William Allan Newbold	Ivy May Colvin
	💍 1920/6023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	7000
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Commr. H. C. Hodder, Salvation Army

856

23 July 1920

Stanley Sutton
Alice Lena Trimming

Stanley Sutton
Alice Lena Trimming
💍 1920/6031

Bachelor
Spinster

Poultry Farmer

24
22

Lower Hutt
Wellington

1 year
6 days

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

7001

23 July 1920

Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational

No	856
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Sutton	Alice Lena Trimming
	💍 1920/6031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Poultry Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	6 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7001
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational

857

23 July 1920

Michael Joseph Kelly
Frances Elizabeth Devey Guthrie

Michael Joseph Kelly
Frances Elizabeth Levey Guthrie
💍 1920/6042

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

33
29

Wellington
Petone

1 year
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Petone

7002

23 July 1920

Rev. P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

No	857
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Kelly	Frances Elizabeth Devey Guthrie
BDM Match (98%)	Michael Joseph Kelly	Frances Elizabeth Levey Guthrie
	💍 1920/6042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Petone
Folio	7002
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

858

23 July 1920

Angus Keith McDonald
Mary Douglas Mathieson

Angus Keith McDonald
Mary Douglas Mathieson
💍 1920/6049

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
3 months

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

7003

23 July 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	858
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Keith McDonald	Mary Douglas Mathieson
	💍 1920/6049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	7003
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

859

23 July 1920

Ernest Charles Magee
Gladys Sinclair Avery

Ernest Charles Magee
Gladys Sinclair Avery
💍 1920/8836

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30
23

Wellington
Blenheim

11 years
23 years

The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

8705

23 July 1920

Rev. G. W. York, Anglican

No	859
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Magee	Gladys Sinclair Avery
	💍 1920/8836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Blenheim
Length of Residence	11 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	8705
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York, 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).