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 1992

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar A. E. Thorpe

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

908

3 October 1922

Harold Makin
Jessie Ethel Russell

Harold Makin
Jessie Ethel Russell
💍 1922/8472

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach builder

32
28

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
28 years

St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn

7563

3 October 1922

Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Anglican

No	908
Date of Notice	3 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Makin	Jessie Ethel Russell
	💍 1922/8472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach builder
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn
Folio	7563
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Anglican

909

4 October 1922

Charles Grant Smith
Lily Amelia Whitbread

Charles Grant Smith
Lily Amelia Whitbread
💍 1922/7267

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Officer

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
1 year

Residence of Rev. R. H. B. Leatherwood, 108 Freyberg Street, Lyall Bay

9513

Jessie Whitbread, mother

4 October 1922

Rev. R. H. B. Leatherwood, Presbyterian

No	909
Date of Notice	4 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Grant Smith	Lily Amelia Whitbread
	💍 1922/7267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Officer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. H. B. Leatherwood, 108 Freyberg Street, Lyall Bay
Folio	9513
Consent	Jessie Whitbread, mother
Date of Certificate	4 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. B. Leatherwood, Presbyterian

910

4 October 1922

Thomas Archibald Stace
Annie Levina Sales

Thomas Archibald Stace
Annie Levina Sales
💍 1922/8473

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
23 years

St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn

7564

4 October 1922

Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Anglican

No	910
Date of Notice	4 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Archibald Stace	Annie Levina Sales
	💍 1922/8473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn
Folio	7564
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Anglican

911

4 October 1922

Walter Reginald Read
Florence Valentine Hall

Walter Reginald Read
Florence Valentine Hill
💍 1922/8474

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

28
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
20 years

St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7565

William Henry Hall, father

4 October 1922

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	911
Date of Notice	4 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Reginald Read	Florence Valentine Hall
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Reginald Read	Florence Valentine Hill
	💍 1922/8474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7565
Consent	William Henry Hall, father
Date of Certificate	4 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

912

4 October 1922

David Andrews
Kathleen Elizabeth Lett

David Andrews
Kathleen Elizabeth Lett
💍 1922/8475

Divorced (Decree Absolute 27-9-1922)
Widow (7-10-1914)

Coal Merchant

59
40

Belmont
Belmont

8 years
8 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

7566

4 October 1922

Registrar

No	912
Date of Notice	4 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Andrews	Kathleen Elizabeth Lett
	💍 1922/8475
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 27-9-1922)	Widow (7-10-1914)
Profession	Coal Merchant
Age	59	40
Dwelling Place	Belmont	Belmont
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	7566
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1922
Officiating Minister	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).