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 1979

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar [illegible]

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

589

31 May 1921

Yoa Hong Wong
Hung Wah Chen

Yoa Gong Wong
Gung Wah Chun
💍 1921/7352

Bachelor
Married in China

Fruiterer
[illegible]

34
31

Wellington
[illegible]

14 years
15 years ago

Residence of Mrs Wong

5676

31 May 1921

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	589
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Yoa Hong Wong	Hung Wah Chen
BDM Match (88%)	Yoa Gong Wong	Gung Wah Chun
	💍 1921/7352
Condition	Bachelor	Married in China
Profession	Fruiterer	[illegible]
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	[illegible]
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years ago
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Wong
Folio	5676
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

590

31 May 1921

Raymond Brunnel Edwards
Doris Amy Peek

Raymond Brunel Edwards
Doris Amy Peek
💍 1921/10285

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
[illegible]

21
27

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
19 years

Registrar's Office

3182

31 May 1921

Registrar

No	590
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Brunnel Edwards	Doris Amy Peek
BDM Match (98%)	Raymond Brunel Edwards	Doris Amy Peek
	💍 1921/10285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	[illegible]
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	3182
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

591

31 May 1921

Francis Patrick Joseph Kelly
Susannah Fletcher

Francis Patrick Joseph Kelly
Susannah Fletcher
💍 1921/10286

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
[illegible]

26
26

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

13 years
16 years

Catholic Presbytery Pine Avenue

3183

31 May 1921

Rev. J. E. Ainsworth, Roman Catholic

No	591
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Patrick Joseph Kelly	Susannah Fletcher
	💍 1921/10286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	[illegible]
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	13 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery Pine Avenue
Folio	3183
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Ainsworth, Roman Catholic

592

1 June 1921

Robert Masterton Bannister
Myrtle Lewis

Robert Masters Bannister
Myrtle Lewis
💍 1921/10287

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
[illegible]

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

1 day
[illegible]

Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace

3184

1 June 1921

Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational

No	592
Date of Notice	1 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Masterton Bannister	Myrtle Lewis
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Masters Bannister	Myrtle Lewis
	💍 1921/10287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	[illegible]
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 day	[illegible]
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace
Folio	3184
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational

593

1 June 1921

William George Staples
Rose Jones

William George Gray Staples
Rose Jones
💍 1921/10264

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
[illegible]

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
8 months

Residence of Mrs J. H. Williams 86 Elizabeth Street

3185

1 June 1921

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	593
Date of Notice	1 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Staples	Rose Jones
BDM Match (91%)	William George Gray Staples	Rose Jones
	💍 1921/10264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	[illegible]
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. H. Williams 86 Elizabeth Street
Folio	3185
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, 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).