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 2212

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar H. E. Bunny

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

890

27 July 1920

Thomas King
Eugenie Anderson

Thomas King
Eugenie Anderson
💍 1920/7358

Widower 17 July 1916
Spinster

Cheese Factory Manager

36
43

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
Life

Residence of bride, 47 Duncan Terrace, Kilbirnie

7034

27 July 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	890
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas King	Eugenie Anderson
	💍 1920/7358
Condition	Widower 17 July 1916	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Factory Manager
Age	36	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of bride, 47 Duncan Terrace, Kilbirnie
Folio	7034
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

891

28 July 1920

John Weatherell
Lovina Caroline Phyllis Brookes

John Weatherell
Lovina Averline Phyllis Brookes
💍 1920/7335

Bachelor
Widow 26 June 1918

Chemist

36
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

7035

28 July 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	891
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Weatherell	Lovina Caroline Phyllis Brookes
BDM Match (94%)	John Weatherell	Lovina Averline Phyllis Brookes
	💍 1920/7335
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 26 June 1918
Profession	Chemist
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	7035
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

892

28 July 1920

Colin Campbell Sinclair
Ethel Doris Gray

Colen Campbell Sinclair
Ethel Doris Gray
💍 1920/7336

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Church of Christ, Rintoul Street, Wellington

7036

28 July 1920

Mr. P. Leng, Church of Christ

No	892
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Campbell Sinclair	Ethel Doris Gray
BDM Match (98%)	Colen Campbell Sinclair	Ethel Doris Gray
	💍 1920/7336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Rintoul Street, Wellington
Folio	7036
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. P. Leng, Church of Christ

893

28 July 1920

George Henry Mackenzie
Agnes Allison Marianna Lambert

George Henry MacKenzie
Agnes Allison Marrianna Lambert
💍 1920/7337

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
2 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

7037

28 July 1920

Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	893
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Mackenzie	Agnes Allison Marianna Lambert
BDM Match (96%)	George Henry MacKenzie	Agnes Allison Marrianna Lambert
	💍 1920/7337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	7037
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

894

28 July 1920

Percival Mason Wright
Jane Grant Mowat

Percival Mason Wright
Jane Grant Mowat
💍 1920/9919

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
7 years Kilbirnie

Residence of Mr J. Mowat, 10 Te Whiti Street, Kilbirnie

12085

28 July 1920

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	894
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Mason Wright	Jane Grant Mowat
	💍 1920/9919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	7 years Kilbirnie
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Mowat, 10 Te Whiti Street, Kilbirnie
Folio	12085
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).