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 2058

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

136

2 February 1920

Walter Harry Matthews
Nelly Polly Vulcanvich commonly known as Nelly Polly Rosie

Walter Harry Matthews
Nelly Polly Rosie
💍 1920/3143

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
7 months

St James Church Adelaide Road Wellington

609

No person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent

17 February 1920

Rev. W. Shirer Presbyterian

No	136
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Harry Matthews	Nelly Polly Vulcanvich commonly known as Nelly Polly Rosie
BDM Match (65%)	Walter Harry Matthews	Nelly Polly Rosie
	💍 1920/3143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	7 months
Marriage Place	St James Church Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	609
Consent	No person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer Presbyterian

137

2 February 1920

Guy Clifford Kinniburgh
Charlotte Paerau Black

Guy Clifford Kinniburgh
Charlotte Paerau Black
💍 1920/3120

Bachelor
Spinster

Sign-writer

32
30

Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie

5 days
7 days

Residence of Bridegroom's Parents 52 Overtoun Terrace Kilbirnie Wellington

610

2 February 1920

Rev. F. T. Read Methodist

No	137
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guy Clifford Kinniburgh	Charlotte Paerau Black
	💍 1920/3120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sign-writer
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	5 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom's Parents 52 Overtoun Terrace Kilbirnie Wellington
Folio	610
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. T. Read Methodist

138

3 February 1920

Ronald Isaacs
Rosah Van Staveren

Ronald Isaacs
Rosah Van Staveren
💍 1920/3121

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
30

Karori
Wellington

1 year
Life

The Synagogue The Terrace Wellington

611

3 February 1920

Rev. H. Van Staveren Hebrew

No	138
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Isaacs	Rosah Van Staveren
	💍 1920/3121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Karori	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	The Synagogue The Terrace Wellington
Folio	611
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Van Staveren Hebrew

139

3 February 1920

George William Roderick
Dorothy Catherine Smith

George William Roderick
Dorothy Catherine Smith
💍 1920/3122

Thomas William Simmons
Mary Catherine Smith
💍 1921/8812

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter and Paperhanger

23
24

Karori
Karori Wellington

2 years
24 years

Church of England Karori Wellington

612

3 February 1920

Rev. G. Y. Woodward Anglican Church of England

No	139
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Roderick	Dorothy Catherine Smith
	💍 1920/3122
BDM Match (61%)	Thomas William Simmons	Mary Catherine Smith
	💍 1921/8812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter and Paperhanger
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Karori Wellington
Folio	612
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward Anglican Church of England

140

4 February 1920

Henry Meredith Buchanan
Louie Alexa McNie

Henry Meredith Buchanan
Louise Alexa McNie
💍 1920/3123

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Nurse

32
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

613

4 February 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

No	140
Date of Notice	4 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Meredith Buchanan	Louie Alexa McNie
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Meredith Buchanan	Louise Alexa McNie
	💍 1920/3123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Nurse
Age	32	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	613
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).