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 1894

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar Deputy Registrar

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

166

14 February 1921

John Dunbar
Isabella Alice Heath

John Dunbar
Isabella Alice Hicks
💍 1921/2644

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

35
32

Invercargill
Wellington

35 years
3 days

Residence of Mr R. B. High

605

14 February 1921

Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

No	166
Date of Notice	14 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dunbar	Isabella Alice Heath
BDM Match (90%)	John Dunbar	Isabella Alice Hicks
	💍 1921/2644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Wellington
Length of Residence	35 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. B. High
Folio	605
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

167

14 February 1921

Victor George Jardine
Ida Reed Quinn

Victor George Parkin
Ida Reed Quinn
💍 1921/2645

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
20 years

St. Peter's Church

606

14 February 1921

Rev. J. H. Taylor, Church of England

No	167
Date of Notice	14 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor George Jardine	Ida Reed Quinn
BDM Match (93%)	Victor George Parkin	Ida Reed Quinn
	💍 1921/2645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	606
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Taylor, Church of England

168

14 February 1921

Andrew Donaldson
Norah Esther Potter

Andrew Donaldson
Norah Cotter
💍 1921/20

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

24
24

Ngaio
Wellington

10 years
4 years

The Basilica Hill Street

607

14 February 1921

Rev. H. C. Dignam, Roman Catholic

No	168
Date of Notice	14 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Donaldson	Norah Esther Potter
BDM Match (79%)	Andrew Donaldson	Norah Cotter
	💍 1921/20
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street
Folio	607
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Dignam, Roman Catholic

169

15 February 1921

Andrew Anderson McKay
Jean Renny Simpson

Andrew Anderson McKay
Jean Renny Simpson
💍 1921/2647

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

25
22

Island Bay
Wellington

7 years
6 years

Church, Island Bay

608

15 February 1921

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	169
Date of Notice	15 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Anderson McKay	Jean Renny Simpson
	💍 1921/2647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church, Island Bay
Folio	608
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

170

15 February 1921

Gavin George Wallace
Marjorie Fearless

Gavin George Wallace
Marjorie Pearless
💍 1921/2648

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
29

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
4 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral

609

15 February 1921

Rev. A. el. Johnson, Church of England

No	170
Date of Notice	15 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin George Wallace	Marjorie Fearless
BDM Match (97%)	Gavin George Wallace	Marjorie Pearless
	💍 1921/2648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral
Folio	609
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. el. Johnson, Church of England

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).