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 2126

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar R. C. 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

466

13 April 1920

Lewis William Cozens
Florence Beatrice Gully

Lewis William Cozens
Florence Beatrice Gully
💍 1920/5573

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

34
35

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
3 weeks

Trinity Methodist Church, Wellington South

3333

13 April 1920

Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

No	466
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis William Cozens	Florence Beatrice Gully
	💍 1920/5573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Wellington South
Folio	3333
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

467

13 April 1920

Albert Henry Green
Mary Eliza Gibson

Albert Henry Green
Mary Eliza Gibson
💍 1920/5574

Bachelor
Widow 27/10/1917

Mechanic

40
38

Wellington
Karori

4 years
2 years

Church of England Karori Wellington

3334

13 April 1920

Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

No	467
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Green	Mary Eliza Gibson
	💍 1920/5574
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27/10/1917
Profession	Mechanic
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Karori Wellington
Folio	3334
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

468

13 April 1920

John William Dalton
Rosie Fitzpatrick

John William Dalton
Rosie Fitzpatrick
💍 1920/5551

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

31
28

Wellington
Kilbirnie

4 months
2 years

St. Patrick's Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

3335

13 April 1920

Rev. J. Connolly, Roman Catholic

No	468
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Dalton	Rosie Fitzpatrick
	💍 1920/5551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	3335
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Connolly, Roman Catholic

469

13 April 1920

Fred Topp
Emma Eldridge

Fred Topp
Emma Eldridge
💍 1920/5552

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

46
35

Newtown
Newtown

5 years
2 days arrived from abroad

St. Thomas' Church, Newtown, Wellington

3336

13 April 1920

Rev. H. Fancourt, Anglican

No	469
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Topp	Emma Eldridge
	💍 1920/5552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Newtown	Newtown
Length of Residence	5 years	2 days arrived from abroad
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	3336
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Fancourt, Anglican

470

13 April 1920

Jeremiah McMahon
Grace Selway

Jeremiah McMahon
Grace Solway
💍 1920/5553

Bachelor
Widow 19/11/1918

Driver

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

Life
26 years

St. Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington

3337

13 April 1920

Rev. M. Fitzgibbon, Roman Catholic

No	470
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah McMahon	Grace Selway
BDM Match (96%)	Jeremiah McMahon	Grace Solway
	💍 1920/5553
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 19/11/1918
Profession	Driver
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	3337
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Fitzgibbon, Roman Catholic

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).