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 1896

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

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

176

17 February 1921

John Frood
Lillian May Lawson

John Frood
Lillian May McIntosh
💍 1921/2630

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

45
26

Wellington
Wellington

2 Weeks

Presbyterian Manse [illegible]

615

17 February 1921

Rev. J. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	176
Date of Notice	17 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frood	Lillian May Lawson
BDM Match (83%)	John Frood	Lillian May McIntosh
	💍 1921/2630
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 Weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse [illegible]
Folio	615
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Orr, Presbyterian

177

17 February 1921

Charles McIntosh
Ellen Mary Bevan

Charles McIntyre
Ellen Mary Bevan
💍 1921/2631

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer

48
35

Wellington
Wellington

Life
29 years

Residence of Mr E. C. Morris, 108 Waipapa Road, Mataitai

616

No	177
Date of Notice	17 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McIntosh	Ellen Mary Bevan
BDM Match (91%)	Charles McIntyre	Ellen Mary Bevan
	💍 1921/2631
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr E. C. Morris, 108 Waipapa Road, Mataitai
Folio	616
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

178

18 February 1921

Cyril Oliver Stuart
Emma Mary Macdougall

Cyril Oliver Clark
Emma May Stuart Macdougall
💍 1921/2632

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

30
32

Lower Hutt
Wellington

18 months
20 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

617

19 February 1921

Rev. J. T. Taylor, Church of England

No	178
Date of Notice	18 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Oliver Stuart	Emma Mary Macdougall
BDM Match (76%)	Cyril Oliver Clark	Emma May Stuart Macdougall
	💍 1921/2632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	617
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Taylor, Church of England

179

19 February 1921

Israel Bradburn
Margaret Watson Cruden

Israel Bradburn
Margaret Watson Cruden
💍 1921/2633

Widower
Spinster

Commission Agent

61
54

Wellington
Wellington

1 Week
5 days

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

618

19 February 1921

Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational

No	179
Date of Notice	19 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Israel Bradburn	Margaret Watson Cruden
	💍 1921/2633
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	61	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 Week	5 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	618
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational

180

19 February 1921

William Henry Davies
Mary Ellen McGregor

William Henry Davies
Mary Ellen McGregor
💍 1921/2634

Widower
Widow

Driver

49
46

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
10 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

619

Deputy Registrar

No	180
Date of Notice	19 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Davies	Mary Ellen McGregor
	💍 1921/2634
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Driver
Age	49	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	619
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).