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 2158

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar Robt. [illegible]

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

626

31 May 1920

John Bett
Evelyn Harriett Gertrude Archer

John Bett
Evelyn Harriett Gertrude Archer
💍 1920/4054

Widower 5/9/1918
Spinster

Motor Importer

56
38

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
Life

Residence of Mrs. Jannaway 23 Macdonald Crescent Wellington

3486

31 May 1920

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	626
Date of Notice	31 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bett	Evelyn Harriett Gertrude Archer
	💍 1920/4054
Condition	Widower 5/9/1918	Spinster
Profession	Motor Importer
Age	56	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Jannaway 23 Macdonald Crescent Wellington
Folio	3486
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

627

31 May 1920

Godfrey Lawrence Selwood
Mabel Morshead

Godfrey Lawrence Sellwood
Mabel Morshead
💍 1920/4031

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

20
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

3487

Under Section 27

15 June 1920

Rev. A. M. Johnson Anglican

No	627
Date of Notice	31 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Godfrey Lawrence Selwood	Mabel Morshead
BDM Match (98%)	Godfrey Lawrence Sellwood	Mabel Morshead
	💍 1920/4031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	20	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	3487
Consent	Under Section 27
Date of Certificate	15 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson Anglican

628

31 May 1920

Mark Walter Leaman
Mary Elizabeth Bingham

Mark Walter Leaman
Mary Elizabeth Bingham
💍 1920/4032

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
18 months

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

3488

31 May 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

No	628
Date of Notice	31 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Walter Leaman	Mary Elizabeth Bingham
	💍 1920/4032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	3488
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

629

31 May 1920

Charles Mullett
Ivy Elizabeth Andersen

Charles Mullett
Ivy Elizabeth Andersen
💍 1920/4033

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

18
20

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

3489

John Mullett Father Under Section 27

15 June 1920

Deputy Registrar

No	629
Date of Notice	31 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Mullett	Ivy Elizabeth Andersen
	💍 1920/4033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	3489
Consent	John Mullett Father Under Section 27
Date of Certificate	15 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

630

1 June 1920

James Were
Eliza Palliser

James Were
Eliza Palliser
💍 1920/4034

Widower 25 Sept 1913
Spinster

Settler

66
39

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 years

St. Mark's Church Wellington

3490

1 June 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page Anglican

No	630
Date of Notice	1 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Were	Eliza Palliser
	💍 1920/4034
Condition	Widower 25 Sept 1913	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	66	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	3490
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 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).