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 2203

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar W. W. Cook

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

845

21 July 1920

Elgar Howland
Amelia Susan McGarva

Elgar Howland
Amelia Susan McGawa
💍 1920/6012

Bachelor
Spinster

Cinematograph Operator

23
19

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

16 years
5 days

Residence of Mr W. R. Howland, Alicetown, Lower Hutt

6990

14 days notice

5 August 1920

John McCaw, Presbyterian

No	845
Date of Notice	21 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elgar Howland	Amelia Susan McGarva
BDM Match (95%)	Elgar Howland	Amelia Susan McGawa
	💍 1920/6012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cinematograph Operator
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	16 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. R. Howland, Alicetown, Lower Hutt
Folio	6990
Consent	14 days notice
Date of Certificate	5 August 1920
Officiating Minister	John McCaw, Presbyterian

846

22 July 1920

Philip Colston Phillips
Isabel Emily Sutherland

Philip Colston Phillips
Isabel Emily Sutherland
💍 1920/6013

Bachelor
Widow 22.5.1911

Draper

34
43

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
4 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6991

22 July 1920

Registrar

No	846
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Colston Phillips	Isabel Emily Sutherland
	💍 1920/6013
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 22.5.1911
Profession	Draper
Age	34	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6991
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

847

22 July 1920

William Frederick Maurice Robinson
Alicia Miriam Mullette

William Frederick Maurice Robinson
Elisia Miriam Mullette
💍 1920/6014

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
2 months

St Anne's Church, Wellington South

6992

22 July 1920

Rev. T. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	847
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Maurice Robinson	Alicia Miriam Mullette
BDM Match (95%)	William Frederick Maurice Robinson	Elisia Miriam Mullette
	💍 1920/6014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church, Wellington South
Folio	6992
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McKenna, Roman Catholic

848

22 July 1920

William Robert Petersen
Elsie May Brown

William Robert Petersen
Elsie May Brown
💍 1920/6015

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

Life
6 months

Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

6993

22 July 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	848
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Petersen	Elsie May Brown
	💍 1920/6015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	6993
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

849

22 July 1920

William Wilson
Edith S. Blair Todd

William Wilson
Edith St Clair Todd
💍 1920/6016

Divorced Decree Absolute 1.4.1920
Spinster

Auctioneer

24
24

Petone
Wellington

12 years
3 years

Congregational Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

6994

22 July 1920

Rev. A. G. Hunt, Congregational

No	849
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilson	Edith S. Blair Todd
BDM Match (95%)	William Wilson	Edith St Clair Todd
	💍 1920/6016
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 1.4.1920	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	6994
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Hunt, 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).