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 2192

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar R. E. O'Connor

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

490

12 July 1920

Michael Hyland
Margaret McGill

Michael Hyland
Margaret McGill
💍 1920/7263

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Hospital Attendant

45
36

Porirua
Wellington

2 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt

6938

12 July 1920

Rev. J. J. Lane, Catholic

No	490
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Hyland	Margaret McGill
	💍 1920/7263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Hospital Attendant
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	6938
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane, Catholic

491

12 July 1920

Harold Stewart
Mary Elizabeth McMillan

Harold Stewart
Mary Elizabeth McMillan
💍 1920/7264

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
26

Petone
Petone

22 years
10 months

Roman Catholic Church, Petone

6939

12 July 1920

Rev. P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

No	491
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Stewart	Mary Elizabeth McMillan
	💍 1920/7264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	22 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Petone
Folio	6939
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

492

13 July 1920

Henry Rudolph August Moschini
Chrissy Brown

Henry Rudolph August Moschini
Chrissy Brown
💍 1920/7265

Bachelor
Widow 24.1.1912

Musician

34
42

Wellington
Wellington

Life
3 days

Residence of bridegroom, 136 Russell Terrace, Wellington South

6940

13 July 1920

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	492
Date of Notice	13 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rudolph August Moschini	Chrissy Brown
	💍 1920/7265
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 24.1.1912
Profession	Musician
Age	34	42
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of bridegroom, 136 Russell Terrace, Wellington South
Folio	6940
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

493

13 July 1920

Roy Vincent Eban
Ethel Yarrow

Roy Vincent Eban
Ethel Farrow
💍 1920/7266

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
11 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

6941

13 July 1920

Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	493
Date of Notice	13 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Vincent Eban	Ethel Yarrow
BDM Match (96%)	Roy Vincent Eban	Ethel Farrow
	💍 1920/7266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	11 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	6941
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

494

13 July 1920

George Pearson
Lilian Jane Hamilton

George Pearson
Lilian Jane Hamilton
💍 1920/7267

George Clark
Jessie Agnes Hamilton
💍 1920/9438

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 years

St Mark's Church, Wellington

6942

13 July 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

No	494
Date of Notice	13 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pearson	Lilian Jane Hamilton
	💍 1920/7267
BDM Match (61%)	George Clark	Jessie Agnes Hamilton
	💍 1920/9438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	6942
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page, 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).