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 1900

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar J. Alley

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

196

22 February 1921

Eric William Thornhill
Eileen Ruth Sigglerlow

Eric William Thornhill
Eileen Ruth Sigglekow
💍 1921/10912

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor
Spinster

18
18

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Tarangai Street

634

James George Thornhill (Father)

22 February 1921

Rev. H. G. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	196
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric William Thornhill	Eileen Ruth Sigglerlow
BDM Match (95%)	Eric William Thornhill	Eileen Ruth Sigglekow
	💍 1921/10912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor	Spinster
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Tarangai Street
Folio	634
Consent	James George Thornhill (Father)
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Bellhouse, Methodist

197

22 February 1921

Maurice Joseph Savage
Phyllis Rose Lowry

Maurice Joseph Savage
Phyllis Rose Lowry
💍 1921/2672

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Spinster

24
18

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

5 Months
3 years

St. James Church

635

Rose Lowry (Mother)

22 February 1921

Rev. A. L. Hansell, Church of England

No	197
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Joseph Savage	Phyllis Rose Lowry
	💍 1921/2672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Spinster
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 Months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church
Folio	635
Consent	Rose Lowry (Mother)
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell, Church of England

198

23 February 1921

George William Barrier
Sarah Dorothy Cawley

George William Barker
Sarah Dorothy Cawley
💍 1921/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Spinster

26
25

Wellington
Wellington South

Life
8 years

St. Anne's Church

636

23 February 1921

Rev. J. W. Hesketh, Roman Catholic

No	198
Date of Notice	23 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Barrier	Sarah Dorothy Cawley
BDM Match (95%)	George William Barker	Sarah Dorothy Cawley
	💍 1921/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Spinster
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	Life	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church
Folio	636
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Hesketh, Roman Catholic

199

23 February 1921

Samuel Hopper
Mary Agnes Keitch

Samuel Hopper
Mary Agnes Veitch
💍 1921/2651

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Spinster

38
33

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

6 years
1 year

Registrar's Office

637

23 February 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	199
Date of Notice	23 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hopper	Mary Agnes Keitch
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Hopper	Mary Agnes Veitch
	💍 1921/2651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Spinster
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	637
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

200

23 February 1921

Robert James Holland
Louisa Lawn

Robert James Holland
Louisa Lawn
💍 1921/2652

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

34
34

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
6 months

Residence of Rev J. K. Elliott, Kent Terrace, Wellington

638

23 February 1921

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	200
Date of Notice	23 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Holland	Louisa Lawn
	💍 1921/2652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. K. Elliott, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	638
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 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).