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 2001

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar W. P. Althorpe

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

953

20 October 1922

Daniel Wakefield
Marie Clare Morrison

Daniel Wakefield
Marie Clare Morrison
💍 1922/6201

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

25
28

Petone
Petone

19 years
20 years

St. Augustine's Church, Petone

7604

20 October 1922

Rev. H. A. Walke, Anglican

No	953
Date of Notice	20 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Wakefield	Marie Clare Morrison
	💍 1922/6201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	7604
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Walke, Anglican

954

21 October 1922

Walter Gough
Lucy Agnes Gonergan

Walter Gough
Lucy Agnes Lonergan
💍 1922/6202

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

62
55

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
10 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

7605

21 October 1922

Rev. S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	954
Date of Notice	21 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Gough	Lucy Agnes Gonergan
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Gough	Lucy Agnes Lonergan
	💍 1922/6202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	62	55
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	7605
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

955

21 October 1922

Ralph Frederick Sutcliffe
Cecilia Josephine Hannah

Ralph Frederick Sutcliffe
Cecilia Josephine Hannan
💍 1922/6203

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
23

Marton
Petone

22 years
4 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

7606

21 October 1922

Rev. M. B. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	955
Date of Notice	21 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Frederick Sutcliffe	Cecilia Josephine Hannah
BDM Match (98%)	Ralph Frederick Sutcliffe	Cecilia Josephine Hannan
	💍 1922/6203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Marton	Petone
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	7606
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Murphy, Roman Catholic

956

21 October 1922

Ernest Draper
Mary Bella Lynch

Ernest Draper
Mary Bella Lynch
💍 1922/6204

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
29

Pahautanui
Lower Hutt

2 years
Life

Church of St. Peter, St. Paul, Lower Hutt

7607

21 October 1922

Very Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

No	956
Date of Notice	21 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Draper	Mary Bella Lynch
	💍 1922/6204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of St. Peter, St. Paul, Lower Hutt
Folio	7607
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

957

21 October 1922

William Herbert Gaterns, commonly known as Bert Doyle
Helen Stewart Goodson

Divorced, Decree Absolute 2:10:1922
Divorced, Decree Absolute 31:5:1912

Theatrical Manager

58
48

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
15 years

St. John's Church, Wellington

9609

21 October 1922

Rev. J. G. Smith, Presbyterian

No	957
Date of Notice	21 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Gaterns, commonly known as Bert Doyle	Helen Stewart Goodson
Condition	Divorced, Decree Absolute 2:10:1922	Divorced, Decree Absolute 31:5:1912
Profession	Theatrical Manager
Age	58	48
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	9609
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith, Presbyterian

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).