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 1893

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar J. Alley

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

161

10 February 1921

Francis Lutt
Winifred Hobinan

Francis Tutt
Winifred Hobman
💍 1921/2616

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
14 years

Trinity Methodist Church, Newtown, Wellington

600

10 February 1921

Rev. F. J. Read, Methodist

No	161
Date of Notice	10 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lutt	Winifred Hobinan
BDM Match (90%)	Francis Tutt	Winifred Hobman
	💍 1921/2616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	600
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Read, Methodist

162

11 February 1921

John Collins
Violet Jane Sullivan

John Collins
Violet Jane Sullivan
💍 1921/2624

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
6 months

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington

601

11 February 1921

Rev. M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	162
Date of Notice	11 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Collins	Violet Jane Sullivan
	💍 1921/2624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	601
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

163

11 February 1921

Thomas Collings
Lydia Amelia Annie Wadham

Thomas Collings
Lydia Amelia Annie Wadham
💍 1921/2635

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
29

Wellington
Wellington

6 Weeks
3 Weeks

Baptist Church, Vivian St.

602

11 February 1921

Rev. J. Bellingham, Baptist

No	163
Date of Notice	11 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Collings	Lydia Amelia Annie Wadham
	💍 1921/2635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 Weeks	3 Weeks
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Vivian St.
Folio	602
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bellingham, Baptist

164

12 February 1921

Kenneth John Caverhill
Florence Isabelle Shelton

Kenneth John Caverhill
Florence Isabella Shelton
💍 1921/2642

Bachelor
Spinster

Servant

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
12 years

St. Pauls Church of England

603

12 February 1921

Rev. W. W. Johnson, Church of England

No	164
Date of Notice	12 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth John Caverhill	Florence Isabelle Shelton
BDM Match (98%)	Kenneth John Caverhill	Florence Isabella Shelton
	💍 1921/2642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church of England
Folio	603
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Johnson, Church of England

165

12 February 1921

Henry Benjamin Edhouse
Lillian Maud McLoughlin

Henry Benjamin Edhouse
Lillian Maud McLoughlin
💍 1921/2643

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

26
25

Mt Pleasant
Wellington

7 years
25 years

St. Johns Church.

604

12 February 1921

Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	165
Date of Notice	12 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Benjamin Edhouse	Lillian Maud McLoughlin
	💍 1921/2643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Mt Pleasant	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church.
Folio	604
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

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).