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 2060

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. E. Ennos

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

146

5 February 1920

Edward Athol Alexander Roberts
Myrtle Dunn

Edward Athol Alexander Roberts
Myrtle Dunn
💍 1920/3128

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

23
18

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

618

John Dunn Father

5 February 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

No	146
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Athol Alexander Roberts	Myrtle Dunn
	💍 1920/3128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	618
Consent	John Dunn Father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

147

5 February 1920

Albert James Overend
Isabel Clay

Albert James Overend
Isabel Clay
💍 1920/3129

Bachelor
Spinster

Despatch Clerk

27
26

Wellington
Trentham

20 years
8 years

St Johns Church Trentham

619

5 February 1920

Rev. G. R. Barnett Anglican Church of England

No	147
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Overend	Isabel Clay
	💍 1920/3129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Despatch Clerk
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Trentham
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Trentham
Folio	619
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Barnett Anglican Church of England

148

5 February 1920

Frank Shirley Spilman
Rita Violet Hislop

Frank Shirley Spilman
Rita Violet Hislop
💍 1920/3131

Bachelor
Widow 4/9/1918

House Builder
School Teacher

38
32

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

18 months
5 months

Registrars Office Wellington

620

5 February 1920

Registrar

No	148
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Shirley Spilman	Rita Violet Hislop
	💍 1920/3131
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 4/9/1918
Profession	House Builder	School Teacher
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	18 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	620
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

149

5 February 1920

Archibald Garner
Mafeking May Englert

Archibald Garner
Mafering May Englert
💍 1920/3132

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

25
19

Korokoro
Petone

25 years
19 years

St Davids Church Petone

621

Martha Englert Mother

5 February 1920

Rev. J. A. McKenzie Presbyterian

No	149
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Garner	Mafeking May Englert
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Garner	Mafering May Englert
	💍 1920/3132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Korokoro	Petone
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Davids Church Petone
Folio	621
Consent	Martha Englert Mother
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. McKenzie Presbyterian

150

5 February 1920

Bernard Campbell Jeffreys
Rose Bridget Healy

Bernard Campbell Jeffreys
Rose Bridget Healy
💍 1920/3133

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

34
34

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
6 years

The Basilica Hill Street Wellington

622

5 February 1920

Rev. F. L. Dignan Roman Catholic

No	150
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Campbell Jeffreys	Rose Bridget Healy
	💍 1920/3133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	6 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	622
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. L. Dignan Roman Catholic

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).