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 2076

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

221

23 February 1920

Joseph Watson Augustine Mahony
Esme Muriel Dovey

Joseph Watson Augustine Mahony
Esme Muriel Dovey
💍 1920/4315

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
23

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

12 months
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

690

23 February 1920

Rev. B. Hutson, Presbyterian

No	221
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Watson Augustine Mahony	Esme Muriel Dovey
	💍 1920/4315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	12 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	690
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson, Presbyterian

222

23 February 1920

Henry James Williams
Lily Eliza Boniface

Henry James Williams
Lily Eliza Boniface
💍 1920/4316

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

25
26

Karori
Karori

6 months
8 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori, Wellington

691

23 February 1920

Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

No	222
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Williams	Lily Eliza Boniface
	💍 1920/4316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori, Wellington
Folio	691
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

223

23 February 1920

Robert James Kitchener Walker
Mona Rosamond Buckmaster

Robert James Kitchener Walker
Mona Rosamond Buckmaster
💍 1920/4317

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

19
20

Newtown
Wellington

6 years
12 years

Residence of Mr. R. Walker, 90 Russell Terrace, Wellington

692

Robert Walker, Father; Charles Buckmaster, Father

23 February 1920

Major J. Newbold, Salvation Army

No	223
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Kitchener Walker	Mona Rosamond Buckmaster
	💍 1920/4317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Newtown	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Walker, 90 Russell Terrace, Wellington
Folio	692
Consent	Robert Walker, Father; Charles Buckmaster, Father
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Major J. Newbold, Salvation Army

224

23 February 1920

William James Simpson
Ann Thomson

William James Simpson
Ann Thomson
💍 1920/4318

Widower 1/7/1893
Widow 16/12/1916

Retired

66
70

Taita
Wellington

16 years
40 years

Residence of Mr. Kells, Main Road, Taita

693

23 February 1920

Rev. J. McCaw, Presbyterian

No	224
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Simpson	Ann Thomson
	💍 1920/4318
Condition	Widower 1/7/1893	Widow 16/12/1916
Profession	Retired
Age	66	70
Dwelling Place	Taita	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Kells, Main Road, Taita
Folio	693
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw, Presbyterian

225

24 February 1920

Llewellyn Stanley Piper
Hilda May White

Llewellyn Stanley Piper
Hilda May White
💍 1920/4319

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
19 years

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

694

24 February 1920

Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	225
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Stanley Piper	Hilda May White
	💍 1920/4319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	694
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

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).