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 2011

District of 30 September 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

746

11 July 1921

Ernest Alfred Doroder Frader
Dora Bray

Ernest Alfred Dowden
Dora Bray
💍 1921/7645

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Produce Grader

52
26

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
8 years

St Mary's Anglican Church

6057

11 July 1921

Rev. Y. Woodward, Anglican

No	746
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Doroder Frader	Dora Bray
BDM Match (82%)	Ernest Alfred Dowden	Dora Bray
	💍 1921/7645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Produce Grader
Age	52	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church
Folio	6057
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. Woodward, Anglican

747

11 July 1921

Harry Sydney Clifford Gange
Masie Irene Barnett

Harry Sydney Clifford Spargo
Masie Irene Barnett
💍 1921/7646

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 9.9.1921)

Painter

24
31

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
2 years

Unitarian Church, Vivian Street

6058

11 July 1921

Rev H. S. Heathcote, Unitarian

No	747
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Sydney Clifford Gange	Masie Irene Barnett
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Sydney Clifford Spargo	Masie Irene Barnett
	💍 1921/7646
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 9.9.1921)
Profession	Painter
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church, Vivian Street
Folio	6058
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Heathcote, Unitarian

748

11 July 1921

James Francis Shedden
Florence Gertrude Sifford Moore

James Francis Skedden
Florence Gertrude Gifford Moore
💍 1921/7647

Bachelor
Spinster

Law clerk

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
9 months

Church of Sacred Heart, Hill Street

6059

11 July 1921

Rev J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	748
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Shedden	Florence Gertrude Sifford Moore
BDM Match (96%)	James Francis Skedden	Florence Gertrude Gifford Moore
	💍 1921/7647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Church of Sacred Heart, Hill Street
Folio	6059
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

749

12 July 1921

James Dimpson
Muriel Elsa Irene Duncan

James Simpson
Muriel Elsa Irene Duncan
💍 1921/7624

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

6060

12 July 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	749
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dimpson	Muriel Elsa Irene Duncan
BDM Match (96%)	James Simpson	Muriel Elsa Irene Duncan
	💍 1921/7624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	6060
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

750

12 July 1921

Robert Downie
Rose Dorothy Cooper

Robert Downie
Rose Dorothy Cooper
💍 1921/7625

Divorced (Decree absolute 19.9.1916)
Spinster

Accountant

42
35

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
3 years

St James Presbyterian Church

6061

12 July 1921

Rev W. Shriver, Presbyterian

No	750
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Downie	Rose Dorothy Cooper
	💍 1921/7625
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 19.9.1916)	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	42	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church
Folio	6061
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shriver, 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).