Intentions to Marry, 1921 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840500, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921e contains pages 1735-2142, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1791

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Taihape Registrar Jervie

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

6 April 1921

Adam George Neenikowski
Elizabeth Jane Siddy

Adam George Necnikowski
Elizabeth Jane Tidd
💍 1921/6852

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer
Servant

34
45

Utiku
Utiku

8 months
8 months

Registrar's Office

5057

8 April 1921

A. L. Berry, Registrar, Taihape

No	13
Date of Notice	6 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam George Neenikowski	Elizabeth Jane Siddy
BDM Match (93%)	Adam George Necnikowski	Elizabeth Jane Tidd
	💍 1921/6852
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	34	45
Dwelling Place	Utiku	Utiku
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	5057
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1921
Officiating Minister	A. L. Berry, Registrar, Taihape

12 April 1921

Harry Joseph Murrell
Edith Jeannie Parkes

Harry Joseph Murrell
Edith Jeannie Parkes
💍 1921/6858

Bachelor
Spinster

Managing Law Clerk
Civil Servant

41
26

Taihape
New Plymouth

9 years
3 months 3 days

St. Mary's Church

5037

[JEANNIE]

12 April 1921

Rev. E. B. Harvie, Anglican, New Plymouth

No	14
Date of Notice	12 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Joseph Murrell	Edith Jeannie Parkes
	💍 1921/6858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Managing Law Clerk	Civil Servant
Age	41	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	9 years	3 months 3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	5037
Consent	[JEANNIE]
Date of Certificate	12 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. B. Harvie, Anglican, New Plymouth

14 April 1921

Henry McDowall
Maud Mary Kennedy

Henry McDowall
Maud Mary Kennedy
💍 1921/6859

Widower (25.6.20)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

42
38

Taihape
Wellington

11 years
9 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

5038

16 April 1921

Rev. J. H. Sykes, Anglican, Kilbirnie, Wellington

No	15
Date of Notice	14 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McDowall	Maud Mary Kennedy
	💍 1921/6859
Condition	Widower (25.6.20)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	9 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	5038
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes, Anglican, Kilbirnie, Wellington

19 April 1921

Neil Ballantyne
Margaret Doreen Bray

Neil Ballantyne
Margaret Doreen Bray
💍 1921/6860

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

21
18

Taihape
Taihape

2 years
18 years

Church of England

5039

21 April 1921

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican, Taihape

No	16
Date of Notice	19 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Ballantyne	Margaret Doreen Bray
	💍 1921/6860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	5039
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican, Taihape

7 May 1921

Charles Henry Murphy
Mary Jane McMartin

Charles Henry Murphy
Mary Jane McCartin
💍 1921/6861

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

29
23

Ohotu
Taihape

20 days
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ohotu

5040

7 May 1921

Rev. Father Harnett, Roman Catholic, Taihape

No	17
Date of Notice	7 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Murphy	Mary Jane McMartin
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Henry Murphy	Mary Jane McCartin
	💍 1921/6861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Ohotu	Taihape
Length of Residence	20 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ohotu
Folio	5040
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Harnett, Roman Catholic, Taihape

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).