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 1831

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Wanganui Registrar H. Hylford

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

[Unnumbered/Continuation]

1 July 1921

Henry Vogt
[Missing]

Bachelor

Labourer

Wanganui

2 weeks

Roman Catholic

1 July 1921

J. A. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	[Unnumbered/Continuation]
Date of Notice	1 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Vogt	[Missing]
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Labourer
Age	45
Dwelling Place	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. A. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

144

1 July 1921

[Missing]
Doris Beatrice McGibbon

Widow (divorced 23/11/1918)

Domestic duties

Wanganui

2 weeks

Presbyterian, Wanganui

7582

July 1921

[Blank]

No	144
Date of Notice	1 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	[Missing]	Doris Beatrice McGibbon
Condition		Widow (divorced 23/11/1918)
Profession		Domestic duties
Age		45
Dwelling Place		Wanganui
Length of Residence		2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian, Wanganui
Folio	7582
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 1921
Officiating Minister	[Blank]

145

4 July 1921

Walter Frank Hall
Florence Elijah Thompson

Walter Frank Hall
Florence Elizabeth Thompson
💍 1921/4288

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Home duties

31
23

Gonville
Wanganui

2 years
1 year

St John's Church of England

7583

4 July 1921

A. O. Williams, Church of England

No	145
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Frank Hall	Florence Elijah Thompson
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Frank Hall	Florence Elizabeth Thompson
	💍 1921/4288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Home duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Gonville	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England
Folio	7583
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	A. O. Williams, Church of England

146

5 July 1921

John Edwin Ferguson
Hilda Margaret Morrison

John Edwin Fergusson
Hilda Margaret Morrison
💍 1921/4289

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

31
25

Halcombe
Wanganui

2 years
18 months

St Paul's Presbyterian Church

7584

5 July 1921

S. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	146
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin Ferguson	Hilda Margaret Morrison
BDM Match (98%)	John Edwin Fergusson	Hilda Margaret Morrison
	💍 1921/4289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church
Folio	7584
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	S. R. Harries, Presbyterian

147

6 July 1921

Guiseppe Salita
Pina Mari

Bachelor
Spinster

Book
Home duties

34
29

Wanganui
Wanganui

1 day
3 months

Roman Catholic Church

7585

6 July 1921

C. L. Utting, Roman Catholic

No	147
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guiseppe Salita	Pina Mari
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book	Home duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	1 day	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	7585
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	C. L. Utting, Roman Catholic

148

8 July 1921

Henry George Davis
Dora Emily Preater

Henry George Davis
Dora Emily Preater
💍 1921/4267

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Home duties

21
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 years
8 years

St John's Church of England

7586

8 July 1921

A. O. Williams, Church of England

No	148
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Davis	Dora Emily Preater
	💍 1921/4267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Home duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England
Folio	7586
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	A. O. Williams, Church of England

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).