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 2010

District of 30 September 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

141

8 July 1921

Alfred Cyril Swainson
Victoria Lucy Mary Olive Hardy

Alfred Cyril Swainson
Victoria Lucy May Olive Hardy
💍 1921/7634

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman

35
31

Manawatu
Wellington

8 months
2 weeks

St Alban's Anglican Church, Eastbourne

6052

8 July 1921

Rev. O. M. Stent, Anglican

No	141
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Cyril Swainson	Victoria Lucy Mary Olive Hardy
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Cyril Swainson	Victoria Lucy May Olive Hardy
	💍 1921/7634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Manawatu	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Alban's Anglican Church, Eastbourne
Folio	6052
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. M. Stent, Anglican

142

9 July 1921

Bertie William Boutts
Kate Ruth Boyd

Bertie William Coutts
Kate Ruth Boyd
💍 1921/7641

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
29

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

2 days
27 years

St David's Presbyterian Church

6053

9 July 1921

Rev. J. McBain, Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie William Boutts	Kate Ruth Boyd
BDM Match (98%)	Bertie William Coutts	Kate Ruth Boyd
	💍 1921/7641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St David's Presbyterian Church
Folio	6053
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McBain, Presbyterian

143

9 July 1921

William Henry Mobbs
Ellen Beatrice Morris

William Henry Mobbs
Ellen Beatrice Morris
💍 1921/7642

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
28

Wellington
Petone

2 days
3 weeks

St Augustine's Anglican Church

6054

9 July 1921

Rev. H. A. Warke, Anglican

No	143
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Mobbs	Ellen Beatrice Morris
	💍 1921/7642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	2 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Anglican Church
Folio	6054
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Warke, Anglican

144

11 July 1921

James Pardoe
Evelyn Ann Shaw

James Parkes
Evelyn Ann Shaw
💍 1921/7643

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

22
27

S.S. Mapourika
Wellington

1 month
3 years

Registrar's Office

6055

11 July 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	144
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pardoe	Evelyn Ann Shaw
BDM Match (88%)	James Parkes	Evelyn Ann Shaw
	💍 1921/7643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	S.S. Mapourika	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	6055
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

145

11 July 1921

Gottlieb Grunwald
Christina Ohram

Widower (since 19 December 1918)
Spinster

Plumber Engineer

34
23

Wellington
Wellington South

3 days
3 years

St Anne's Roman Catholic Church

6056

11 July 1921

Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	145
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gottlieb Grunwald	Christina Ohram
Condition	Widower (since 19 December 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Plumber Engineer
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Roman Catholic Church
Folio	6056
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).