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 2096

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. C. Ennis

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

321

16 March 1920

Walter Adams
Elizabeth Vennard

Walter Adams
Elizabeth Vennard
💍 1920/4413

Divorced Decree Absolute 7 March 1920
Spinster

Brewers Representative

40
39

Island Bay
Island Bay

16 years
7 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

788

16 March 1920

Registrar

No	321
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Adams	Elizabeth Vennard
	💍 1920/4413
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 7 March 1920	Spinster
Profession	Brewers Representative
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Island Bay
Length of Residence	16 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	788
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

322

16 March 1920

Andrew Loughlin Considine
Hilda Ethel Heagerty

Andrew O'Loughlin Considine
Hilda Ethel Heagerty
💍 1920/4414

Widower 9 June 1911
Widow 20 September 1914

Settler

70
60

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington

789

16 March 1920

Rev. J. C. Abbott Anglican

No	322
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Loughlin Considine	Hilda Ethel Heagerty
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew O'Loughlin Considine	Hilda Ethel Heagerty
	💍 1920/4414
Condition	Widower 9 June 1911	Widow 20 September 1914
Profession	Settler
Age	70	60
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	789
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Abbott Anglican

323

18 March 1920

Thomas McWhirter
Louisa May Taylor

Thomas McWhirter
Louisa May Taylor
💍 1920/4415

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

33
39

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

2 years
2 years

St Matthews Church Brooklyn Wellington

790

18 March 1920

Rev. G. W. Dent Anglican

No	323
Date of Notice	18 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McWhirter	Louisa May Taylor
	💍 1920/4415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	33	39
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Brooklyn Wellington
Folio	790
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent Anglican

324

18 March 1920

Richard John Seddon Wood
Linda Smith

Richard John Seddon Wood
Linda Smith
💍 1920/4416

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 20 December 1919

Clerk

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
12 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

791

18 March 1920

Registrar

No	324
Date of Notice	18 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Seddon Wood	Linda Smith
	💍 1920/4416
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 20 December 1919
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	791
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

325

18 March 1920

William Shields
Grace Baylis

William Shiells
Grace Baylis
💍 1920/4417

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

32
27

Palmerston North
Wellington

8 months
27 years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

792

18 March 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

No	325
Date of Notice	18 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Shields	Grace Baylis
BDM Match (97%)	William Shiells	Grace Baylis
	💍 1920/4417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	792
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

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).