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 2009

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar A. C. Crombie

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

736

6 July 1921

John Harold Thornton
Jessie May Place

John Harold Thornton
Jessie May Glover
💍 1921/1929

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

6047

6 July 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	736
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harold Thornton	Jessie May Place
BDM Match (88%)	John Harold Thornton	Jessie May Glover
	💍 1921/1929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	6047
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

737

7 July 1921

Heke Wehipa [illegible surname]
Alice Maud Walker

Heke Wehipeihana
Alice Maud Walker
💍 1921/1930

Bachelor
Widow 20:11:1918

Headlight Glazier

24
27

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
15 years

Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington

6048

7 July 1921

Rev. J. H. Smith Methodist

No	737
Date of Notice	7 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Heke Wehipa [illegible surname]	Alice Maud Walker
BDM Match (73%)	Heke Wehipeihana	Alice Maud Walker
	💍 1921/1930
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20:11:1918
Profession	Headlight Glazier
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington
Folio	6048
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Smith Methodist

738

7 July 1921

William Thomas Swingland Turnbull
Florence Agnes Kneebone

William Thomas Swingland Turnbull
Florence Agnes Kneebone
💍 1921/1931

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer Storekeeper

19
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
19 years

Salvation Army Quarters

6049

John Joseph Turnbull, Father; Mary Ann Kneebone, Mother

7 July 1921

Capt. W. Fraser Salvation Army

No	738
Date of Notice	7 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Swingland Turnbull	Florence Agnes Kneebone
	💍 1921/1931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer Storekeeper
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Quarters
Folio	6049
Consent	John Joseph Turnbull, Father; Mary Ann Kneebone, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Capt. W. Fraser Salvation Army

739

7 July 1921

William George Wonnacott
Ellen Johnson

William George Wonnocott
Ellen Johnson
💍 1921/1932

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
1 month

Registrar's Office Wellington

6050

Albert Wonnacott, Father; [illegible] Father

7 July 1921

Registrar

No	739
Date of Notice	7 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Wonnacott	Ellen Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	William George Wonnocott	Ellen Johnson
	💍 1921/1932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	6050
Consent	Albert Wonnacott, Father; [illegible] Father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

740

8 July 1921

Wilfred Borlase Vosper
Flora Fair

Wilfred Borlase Vosper
Flora Gair
💍 1921/7623

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
19

Hanna
Wellington

15 months
10 days

St John's Presbyterian Manse Wellington

6051

Marion Vosper, Mother; [illegible] Mother

8 July 1921

Rev. J. Gibb Presbyterian

No	740
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Borlase Vosper	Flora Fair
BDM Match (95%)	Wilfred Borlase Vosper	Flora Gair
	💍 1921/7623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Hanna	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	10 days
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Manse Wellington
Folio	6051
Consent	Marion Vosper, Mother; [illegible] Mother
Date of Certificate	8 July 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).