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 2092

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. A. Burns

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

301

11 March 1920

John Turner
Rubina Halstead-Tester

John Turner
Rubina Halsted-Tester
💍 1920/4369

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

35
32

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
7 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

769

11 March 1920

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	301
Date of Notice	11 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Turner	Rubina Halstead-Tester
BDM Match (98%)	John Turner	Rubina Halsted-Tester
	💍 1920/4369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	769
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

302

12 March 1920

Frederick James Read
Kate Earle

Frederick James Read
Kate Earle
💍 1920/4371

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

45
19

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
11 years

Central Mission Hall, Webb Street, Wellington

770

John Earle, Father

12 March 1920

Rev. G. K. Smith, Methodist

No	302
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Read	Kate Earle
	💍 1920/4371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	45	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Central Mission Hall, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	770
Consent	John Earle, Father
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith, Methodist

303

12 March 1920

William Lynn Burn
Ada Victoria Croawell

William Lynn Burn
Ada Victoria Croawell
💍 1920/4372

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
28

Petone
Kelburn

15 years
10 years

St. David's Church, Petone

771

12 March 1920

Rev. J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	303
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lynn Burn	Ada Victoria Croawell
	💍 1920/4372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Kelburn
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	771
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

304

12 March 1920

Joseph Percy Thompson
Elsie Kenworthy

Joseph Percy Thompson
Elsie Kenworthy
💍 1920/4373

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
30

Ngaio
Berhampore

4 months
3 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

772

12 March 1920

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	304
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Percy Thompson	Elsie Kenworthy
	💍 1920/4373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Berhampore
Length of Residence	4 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	772
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

305

12 March 1920

Lewis Martin Theodore Myers
Dorothy Edna Washington

Lewis Martin Theodore Myers
Dorothy Edna Washington
💍 1920/4374

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
19

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

18 months
15 years

St. John's Church, Johnsonville

773

Arthur Washington, Father

12 March 1920

Rev. C. H. Isaacson, Anglican

No	305
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Martin Theodore Myers	Dorothy Edna Washington
	💍 1920/4374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	18 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Johnsonville
Folio	773
Consent	Arthur Washington, Father
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacson, 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).