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 1861

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar [Illegible Signature]

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

4 January 1921

Samuel Beechag
Louisa Bosher

Samuel Beehag
Louisa Bosher
💍 1921/2491

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

35
25

Petone
Petone

1 year
3 years

St. David's Church, Petone

443

4 January 1921

Rev J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Beechag	Louisa Bosher
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Beehag	Louisa Bosher
	💍 1921/2491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	443
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

4 January 1921

Norman William Bosher
Ida Hutchinson

Norman William Bosher
Ida Hutchinson
💍 1921/2492

Bachelor
Spinster

Ladies' Outfitter

26
19

Petone
Petone

3 years

St. David's Church, Petone

444

4 January 1921

Robert Hutchinson, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman William Bosher	Ida Hutchinson
	💍 1921/2492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ladies' Outfitter
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	444
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Hutchinson, Presbyterian

4 January 1921

Alan John Hume
Ida Jane Maloney

Alan John Hume
Ida Jane Maloney
💍 1921/2493

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery, 6 Boulcott Street, Wellington

445

4 January 1921

The Rev. Mr. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan John Hume	Ida Jane Maloney
	💍 1921/2493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, 6 Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	445
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Mr. Murphy, Roman Catholic

4 January 1921

John Branley Rice
Violet Maude Stroobant

John Cranley Rex
Violet Maud Stroobant
💍 1921/2495

Bachelor
Spinster

Engraver

28
20

Wellington
Hobson Street, Wellington

4 years

446

4 January 1921

The Rev. R. S. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Branley Rice	Violet Maude Stroobant
BDM Match (86%)	John Cranley Rex	Violet Maud Stroobant
	💍 1921/2495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engraver
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hobson Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place
Folio	446
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. S. Bellhouse, Methodist

4 January 1921

William Arthur Wells
Florence Agnes Schnarndorff

William Arthur Wells
Florance Agnes Schnarndorff
💍 1921/2496

Divorced (Decree Absolute 3/12/1918)
Widow (3/12/1920)

Labourer

45
55

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
13 years

Registrar's Office

447

4 January 1921

Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Wells	Florence Agnes Schnarndorff
BDM Match (98%)	William Arthur Wells	Florance Agnes Schnarndorff
	💍 1921/2496
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 3/12/1918)	Widow (3/12/1920)
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	55
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	447
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).