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 1957

District of 30 June 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

479

30 April 1921

Joseph Amos Fenton
Jean Mary McLaughlin

Joseph Nurse Fenton
Jean Mary McLaughlin
💍 1921/10332

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

36
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office

3079

30 April 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	479
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Amos Fenton	Jean Mary McLaughlin
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph Nurse Fenton	Jean Mary McLaughlin
	💍 1921/10332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	3079
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

480

30 April 1921

John Sydney Nightingale
Louisa Birch

John Sydney Nightingale
Louisa Birch
💍 1921/10333

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

36
37

Wellington
Wellington

8 years

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street

3080

30 April 1921

Rev. S. S. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	480
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sydney Nightingale	Louisa Birch
	💍 1921/10333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	3080
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. S. Bellhouse, Methodist

481

30 April 1921

George Renner
Lillian Beatrice Anderson

George Renner
Lillian Beatrice Anderson
💍 1921/10334

Widower (1 August 1918)
Widow (23 November 1918)

Journalist

69
36

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
18 months

Residence of W. Power, 20 Siropi Street

3081

30 April 1921

Rev. W. A. Evans, Congregational

No	481
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Renner	Lillian Beatrice Anderson
	💍 1921/10334
Condition	Widower (1 August 1918)	Widow (23 November 1918)
Profession	Journalist
Age	69	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Power, 20 Siropi Street
Folio	3081
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Evans, Congregational

482

2 May 1921

Edward James W. Stcombe
Ann Duncan

Edward James Witcombe
Ann Duncan
💍 1921/10335

Widower (3 April 1920)
Widow (28 May 1919)

Maker

44
35

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
3 years

Residence of R. H. Batherwood, 108 Greyberg Street

3082

2 May 1921

Rev. R. H. Batherwood, Presbyterian

No	482
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James W. Stcombe	Ann Duncan
BDM Match (94%)	Edward James Witcombe	Ann Duncan
	💍 1921/10335
Condition	Widower (3 April 1920)	Widow (28 May 1919)
Profession	Maker
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. H. Batherwood, 108 Greyberg Street
Folio	3082
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Batherwood, Presbyterian

483

2 May 1921

George Oswald Dutton
Millicent Eves

George Oswald Sutton
Millicent Eves
💍 1921/10336

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Accountant

45
25

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
25 years

St Paul's Pro. Cathedral

3083

2 May 1921

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	483
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Oswald Dutton	Millicent Eves
BDM Match (98%)	George Oswald Sutton	Millicent Eves
	💍 1921/10336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant
Age	45	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro. Cathedral
Folio	3083
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

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).