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 2204

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar G. G. Hodgkins

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

850

22 July 1920

Charles Raymond Thompson
Estella Brigden

Charles Raymond Thompson
Estella Brigden
💍 1920/6018

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

Residence of Rev. G. G. Hale, 153 Ghuznee Street, Wellington

6995

22 July 1920

Rev. G. G. Hale, Unitarian

No	850
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Raymond Thompson	Estella Brigden
	💍 1920/6018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. G. Hale, 153 Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Folio	6995
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Hale, Unitarian

851

22 July 1920

James Irvin McRobert
Gertrude Allen Beck

James Irwin McRoberts
Gertrude Ellen Beck
💍 1920/6019

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

30
35

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 years

Residence of bride's parents, 171 Queen's Drive, Lyall Bay, Wellington

6996

22 July 1920

Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

No	851
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Irvin McRobert	Gertrude Allen Beck
BDM Match (93%)	James Irwin McRoberts	Gertrude Ellen Beck
	💍 1920/6019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of bride's parents, 171 Queen's Drive, Lyall Bay, Wellington
Folio	6996
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

852

22 July 1920

Joseph Bruce Ford
Ada Beatrice Tukes

Joseph Bruce Ford
Ada Beatrice Tukes
💍 1920/6020

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman

22
21

Petone
Petone

18 years
21 years

Residence of bride's parents, 61 Hutt Road, Petone

6997

22 July 1920

Mr. F. J. Marshall, Church of Christ

No	852
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bruce Ford	Ada Beatrice Tukes
	💍 1920/6020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	18 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of bride's parents, 61 Hutt Road, Petone
Folio	6997
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. F. J. Marshall, Church of Christ

853

23 July 1920

Harold Francis Tibbits
Nancy Ann Robinson

Harold Francis Tibbitts
Nancy Ann Robinson
💍 1920/6021

Widower 8.12.1919
Spinster

Garage Proprietor

36
43

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

(R.O.) St. Peter's Registrar's Church Office, Wellington

6998

23 July 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	853
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Francis Tibbits	Nancy Ann Robinson
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Francis Tibbitts	Nancy Ann Robinson
	💍 1920/6021
Condition	Widower 8.12.1919	Spinster
Profession	Garage Proprietor
Age	36	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	(R.O.) St. Peter's Registrar's Church Office, Wellington
Folio	6998
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

854

23 July 1920

Bertram Henry Wheeler
Esther Florence Gibbs

Bertram Henry Wheeler
Esther Florence Gibbs
💍 1920/6022

Bachelor
Widow 27.8.1918

Farmer

25
28

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6999

23 July 1920

Registrar

No	854
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Henry Wheeler	Esther Florence Gibbs
	💍 1920/6022
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27.8.1918
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6999
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).