Intentions to Marry, 1922 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840508, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922e contains pages 1691-2058, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1743

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar F. Guedet

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

10 April 1922

Neville Parenga Spooner
Emma Almeria Piotti Carpenter

Neville Parenga Spooner
Emma Almeria Piotti Carpenter
💍 1922/4753

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
26

Taihape
Taihape

25 years
15 years

Church of England, Taihape

4316

10 April 1922

Rev. W. F. Stent, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	10 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neville Parenga Spooner	Emma Almeria Piotti Carpenter
	💍 1922/4753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	25 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taihape
Folio	4316
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Church of England

13 April 1922

Frederick Claude Tyson
Myrtle Ivy Old

Frederick Claude Tyson
Myrtle Ivy Old
💍 1922/5211

Bachelor
Spinster

Law clerk
Domestic Duties

22
21

Taihape
Taihape

20 years
21 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Taihape

4934

13 April 1922

Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	13 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Claude Tyson	Myrtle Ivy Old
	💍 1922/5211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Taihape
Folio	4934
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

15 April 1922

John Frederick O'Connor
Isabelle McPhee

John Frederick O'Connor
Isabelle McPhee
💍 1922/5188

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

32
26

Raetihi
Raetihi

16 years
15 months

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Taihape

4935

15 April 1922

Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	15 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick O'Connor	Isabelle McPhee
	💍 1922/5188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	16 years	15 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Taihape
Folio	4935
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

27 April 1922

Neanian Robert Ferguson
Kathleen Margaret Brodrick

Neanian Robert Ferguson
Kathleen Margaret Brodrick
💍 1922/4754

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

39
29

Mataroa
Mataroa

18 years
5 years

Residence of M. Ferguson, Mataroa

4317

27 April 1922

Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neanian Robert Ferguson	Kathleen Margaret Brodrick
	💍 1922/4754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Mataroa	Mataroa
Length of Residence	18 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Ferguson, Mataroa
Folio	4317
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

5 May 1922

Frederick Williams
Winifred McGowan

Frederick Williams
Winifred McGowan
💍 1922/5189

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.I.R.
Domestic Duties

21
20

Taihape
Taihape

3 weeks
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Taihape

4936

Edward McGowan (father)

5 May 1922

Rev. Father Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	5 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Williams	Winifred McGowan
	💍 1922/5189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.I.R.	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Taihape
Folio	4936
Consent	Edward McGowan (father)
Date of Certificate	5 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Harnett, Roman Catholic

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).