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 2156

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar W. W. Samson

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

616

27 May 1920

Albert Edward Douthwaite
Ada Mary Kelly

Albert Edward Dowthwaite
Ada Mary Kelly
💍 1920/4030

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

18
18

Wadestown
Wellington

Life
17 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

3476

Henry Douthwaite, Father; John Joseph Kelly, Father

27 May 1920

Deputy Registrar

No	616
Date of Notice	27 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Douthwaite	Ada Mary Kelly
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Edward Dowthwaite	Ada Mary Kelly
	💍 1920/4030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Wadestown	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	3476
Consent	Henry Douthwaite, Father; John Joseph Kelly, Father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

617

27 May 1920

Walter John Christophersen
Alice Lowe

Walter John Robert Christophersen
Alice Lowe
💍 1920/4041

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
2 years

Residence of Rev. E. Drake, 24 Colombo Street, Wellington

3477

Under section 27

11 June 1920

Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

No	617
Date of Notice	27 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Christophersen	Alice Lowe
BDM Match (89%)	Walter John Robert Christophersen	Alice Lowe
	💍 1920/4041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. E. Drake, 24 Colombo Street, Wellington
Folio	3477
Consent	Under section 27
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

618

27 May 1920

Eddie George Shearer
Dorothy May Babington

Eddie George Shearer
Dorothy May Babington
💍 1920/4048

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

27
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

12 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church Lower Hutt

3478

27 May 1920

Rev. J. McCaw, Presbyterian

No	618
Date of Notice	27 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eddie George Shearer	Dorothy May Babington
	💍 1920/4048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lower Hutt
Folio	3478
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw, Presbyterian

619

27 May 1920

Harry Thomas Peat
Dorothy Martha Walker

Harry Thomas Peat
Dorothy Martha Walker
💍 1920/4049

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller's Engraver

24
20

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
5 days

St. Mark's Church Wellington

3479

Under Section 27

11 June 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

No	619
Date of Notice	27 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Thomas Peat	Dorothy Martha Walker
	💍 1920/4049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller's Engraver
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	3479
Consent	Under Section 27
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

620

28 May 1920

Walter James Thomson
Margaret Ellen Cranny

Walter James Thomson
Margaret Ellen Cranny
💍 1920/4050

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree absolute 5 May 1920

Railway Fireman

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

3480

28 May 1920

Deputy Registrar

No	620
Date of Notice	28 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Thomson	Margaret Ellen Cranny
	💍 1920/4050
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree absolute 5 May 1920
Profession	Railway Fireman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	3480
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Deputy 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).