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 1803

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wanganui Registrar A. H. Hythe

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

17 January 1921

Gathorne Hardy
Ivy Louisa Webb-Jones

Gathorne Hardy
Ivy Louisa Webb-Jones
💍 1921/9639

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Home duties

28
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 months
6 months

Trinity Methodist Church

2329

17 January 1921

H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	17 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gathorne Hardy	Ivy Louisa Webb-Jones
	💍 1921/9639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Home duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church
Folio	2329
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. L. Blamires, Methodist

11 January 1921

Ernest Fargie
Olive Beatrice May Grainwaring

Ernest Fargie
Olive Beatrice May Mainwaring
💍 1921/9640

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Home duties

32
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

10 years
2 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church

2330

19 January 1921

D. Campbell, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	11 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Fargie	Olive Beatrice May Grainwaring
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Fargie	Olive Beatrice May Mainwaring
	💍 1921/9640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	2330
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1921
Officiating Minister	D. Campbell, Presbyterian

12 January 1921

Henry Albert Hutcheson
Isabelle Thompson

Henry Albert Nutbeen
Isabelle Thompson
💍 1921/9641

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Household duties

39
36

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 months
5 years

Church of Christ

2331

19 January 1921

H. G. Noble, Church of Christ

No	12
Date of Notice	12 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Albert Hutcheson	Isabelle Thompson
BDM Match (89%)	Henry Albert Nutbeen	Isabelle Thompson
	💍 1921/9641
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ
Folio	2331
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. G. Noble, Church of Christ

13 January 1921

James Paul Cunningham
Erena Anne Johnston

James Paul Cunningham
Nina Anne Johnston
💍 1921/9642

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Home duties

27
27

Taihape
Wanganui

12 months
7 years

St Paul's Presbyterian Church

2332

23 January 1921

E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	13 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Paul Cunningham	Erena Anne Johnston
BDM Match (92%)	James Paul Cunningham	Nina Anne Johnston
	💍 1921/9642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Home duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Wanganui
Length of Residence	12 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church
Folio	2332
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1921
Officiating Minister	E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

14 January 1921

Daniel Joseph Cavanagh
Edith Myrtle Benefield

Daniel Joseph Cavanagh
Edith Myrtle Benefield
💍 1921/9643

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

21
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 months
6 months

Roman Catholic Church

2333

24 January 1921

J. M. O'Ferrall, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Joseph Cavanagh	Edith Myrtle Benefield
	💍 1921/9643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	2333
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. M. O'Ferrall, Roman Catholic

15 January 1921

[illegible]
[illegible]

[illegible]

No	15
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	[illegible]	[illegible]
Condition	[illegible]	[illegible]
Profession	[illegible]	[illegible]
Age	[illegible]	[illegible]
Dwelling Place	[illegible]	[illegible]
Length of Residence	[illegible]	[illegible]
Marriage Place	[illegible]
Folio	[illegible]
Consent
Date of Certificate	[illegible]
Officiating Minister	[illegible]

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).