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 2184

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar R. E. Thomas

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

750

2 July 1920

Nathaniel John George Alfred Knott
Margaret Melroy McClelland

Nathaniel John George Alfred Knott
Margaret Milroy McLelland
💍 1920/7250

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree Absolute 18.6.1920

Mechanic

33
33

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

6899

2 July 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	750
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathaniel John George Alfred Knott	Margaret Melroy McClelland
BDM Match (94%)	Nathaniel John George Alfred Knott	Margaret Milroy McLelland
	💍 1920/7250
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree Absolute 18.6.1920
Profession	Mechanic
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	6899
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

751

2 July 1920

Ling Pow Song
Ah Mui Chun

Ling Pow Wong
Ah Nui Chun
💍 1920/7251

Married in China 12 years ago

Fruiterer

47
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. Wong, 4 Mortimer Terrace, Wellington

6900

2 July 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	751
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ling Pow Song	Ah Mui Chun
BDM Match (92%)	Ling Pow Wong	Ah Nui Chun
	💍 1920/7251
Condition	Married in China 12 years ago
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	47	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Wong, 4 Mortimer Terrace, Wellington
Folio	6900
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

752

3 July 1920

Beethoven Algar
Kathleen Norman

Beethoven Algar
Kathleen Norman
💍 1920/7309

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

Life
15 years

St Thomas Church, Newtown, Wellington

6901

3 July 1920

Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	752
Date of Notice	3 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Beethoven Algar	Kathleen Norman
	💍 1920/7309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	15 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	6901
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

753

3 July 1920

Frederick Henry Edward Banks
Emily Beatrice Lily Edlin

Frederick Henry Edward Banks
Emily Beatrice Lily Edlin
💍 1920/7320

Divorced Decree Absolute 1.7.1920
Spinster

Tailor's Presser

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6902

3 July 1920

Registrar

No	753
Date of Notice	3 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Edward Banks	Emily Beatrice Lily Edlin
	💍 1920/7320
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 1.7.1920	Spinster
Profession	Tailor's Presser
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6902
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

754

3 July 1920

Alfred Reynard
Susan Jane Goodwin

Alfred Reynard
Susan Jane Goodwin
💍 1920/7327

Widower 25.10.1912
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

40
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6903

3 July 1920

Registrar

No	754
Date of Notice	3 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Reynard	Susan Jane Goodwin
	💍 1920/7327
Condition	Widower 25.10.1912	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6903
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 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).