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 2066

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. O. Ellis

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

176

11 February 1920

Francis Roy Batchelor
Helma Hutton Elliott

Frances Roy Batchelor
Helena Hutton Elliott
💍 1920/3181

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer

35
33

Miramar
Hataitai

3 days
2 weeks

Salvation Army Hall, Wellington South

645

11 February 1920

Lieut-Col. J. H. Bray, Salvation Army

No	176
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Roy Batchelor	Helma Hutton Elliott
BDM Match (93%)	Frances Roy Batchelor	Helena Hutton Elliott
	💍 1920/3181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Miramar	Hataitai
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Wellington South
Folio	645
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Lieut-Col. J. H. Bray, Salvation Army

177

11 February 1920

Michael Williams
Jeannette Dorothy Wiley

Michael Williams
Jeannette Dorothy Wiley
💍 1920/3182

Widower 28/7/1900
Divorced Decree Absolute 22-2-1916

Ropemaker

46
42

Petone
Koro Koro

18 months
10 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

646

11 February 1920

Registrar

No	177
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Williams	Jeannette Dorothy Wiley
	💍 1920/3182
Condition	Widower 28/7/1900	Divorced Decree Absolute 22-2-1916
Profession	Ropemaker
Age	46	42
Dwelling Place	Petone	Koro Koro
Length of Residence	18 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	646
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

178

11 February 1920

Joseph Quinn
Emily Jane Hardy

Joseph Quinn
Emily Jane Hardy
💍 1920/3183

Bachelor
Widow 7-8-1915

Police Constable

34
33

Wellington
Wellington

8 days
5 years

Residence of Mr Thomas Bibby, 75 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, Wellington

647

11 February 1920

Rev B. Hutson, Presbyterian

No	178
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Quinn	Emily Jane Hardy
	💍 1920/3183
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 7-8-1915
Profession	Police Constable
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Thomas Bibby, 75 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	647
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev B. Hutson, Presbyterian

179

11 February 1920

Leslie Frankland Woods
Eileen Frances Murphy

Leslie Frankland Woods
Eileen Frances Murphy
💍 1920/3184

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

37
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 months

St Mary of the Angels' Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

648

11 February 1920

Rev S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	179
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Frankland Woods	Eileen Frances Murphy
	💍 1920/3184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels' Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	648
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

180

11 February 1920

Paul Hiram Leslie John Simpson
Jennie Annie Johnston

Paul Hiram Leslie John Simpson
Jennie Annie Johnston
💍 1920/3185

Bachelor
Spinster

Advertisement-writer

27
27

Wellington
Hataitai

4 years
Life

All Saints' Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

649

11 February 1920

Rev J. H. Sykes, Anglican C of E

No	180
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Hiram Leslie John Simpson	Jennie Annie Johnston
	💍 1920/3185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Advertisement-writer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hataitai
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	649
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Sykes, Anglican C of E

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).