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 2013

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Wellington

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

156

14 July 1921

Louis John Anderson
Millicent Corning

Louis John Anderson
Millicent Conning
💍 1921/7631

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
1 day

Registrar's Office Wellington

14 July 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	156
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis John Anderson	Millicent Corning
BDM Match (97%)	Louis John Anderson	Millicent Conning
	💍 1921/7631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

157

14 July 1921

James O'Neill
Hilda Farth

James O'Neill
Hilda Garth
💍 1921/7632

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Telegraphist

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
7 years

St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church Buckle Street Wellington

6068

14 July 1921

Rev J. P. Fullen Roman Catholic

No	157
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Neill	Hilda Farth
BDM Match (95%)	James O'Neill	Hilda Garth
	💍 1921/7632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Telegraphist
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	6068
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. P. Fullen Roman Catholic

158

15 July 1921

William Winter
Margaret Williamson

William Winter
Margaret Williamson
💍 1921/7633

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 days

Presbyterian Manse 19 Bolton Street Wellington

6069

15 July 1921

Rev D. R. Orr Presbyterian

No	158
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Winter	Margaret Williamson
	💍 1921/7633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 19 Bolton Street Wellington
Folio	6069
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev D. R. Orr Presbyterian

159

15 July 1921

Samuel Charles Mayall
Muriel Catherine Cox

Samuel Charles Mayall
Muriel Katherine Cox
💍 1921/7635

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

34
22

Wellington
Wellington

18 months

Residence of Parents Thoromandel Street Wellington

6070

15 July 1921

Rev J. Ward Methodist

No	159
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Charles Mayall	Muriel Catherine Cox
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Charles Mayall	Muriel Katherine Cox
	💍 1921/7635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Parents Thoromandel Street Wellington
Folio	6070
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Ward Methodist

160

15 July 1921

Harry Toomer
Flora Findlay Russell

Harry Toomer
Flora Finlayson Russell
💍 1921/7636

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

25
21

Wellington
Kelburn

9 months
21 years

Presbyterian Manse 5 Aroa Road Kelburn

6071

15 July 1921

Rev W. Day Presbyterian

No	160
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Toomer	Flora Findlay Russell
BDM Match (91%)	Harry Toomer	Flora Finlayson Russell
	💍 1921/7636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kelburn
Length of Residence	9 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 5 Aroa Road Kelburn
Folio	6071
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Day 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).