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 1812

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar J. R. Shorpe

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

16 February 1922

William George Lilly
Mellish Ruth McLeay

William George Lilly Mellish
Ruth McLeay
💍 1922/804

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
28 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

350

16 February 1922

S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	176
Date of Notice	16 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Lilly	Mellish Ruth McLeay
BDM Match (65%)	William George Lilly Mellish	Ruth McLeay
	💍 1922/804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	350
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1922
Officiating Minister	S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

177

16 February 1922

Frederick Goldsmith
Mary Ann Olson

Frederick Goldsmith
Mary Ann Olson
💍 1922/3460

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

33
37

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
3 1/2 years

Webb Street Methodist Church, Wellington

2321

16 February 1922

G. K. Smith, Methodist

No	177
Date of Notice	16 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Goldsmith	Mary Ann Olson
	💍 1922/3460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Webb Street Methodist Church, Wellington
Folio	2321
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1922
Officiating Minister	G. K. Smith, Methodist

178

17 February 1922

Edward William Peane
Ruth Burgess

Edward William Pearse
Ruth Burgess
💍 1922/812

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
22

Heretaunga
Silverstream

30 years
3 months

St John's Church, Trentham

351

17 February 1922

H. S. Barnett, Anglican

No	178
Date of Notice	17 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Peane	Ruth Burgess
BDM Match (95%)	Edward William Pearse	Ruth Burgess
	💍 1922/812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Heretaunga	Silverstream
Length of Residence	30 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Trentham
Folio	351
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1922
Officiating Minister	H. S. Barnett, Anglican

179

17 February 1922

Raphael Cullen McArthur
Agnes Hill McDougall

Raphael Cullen McArthur
Agnes Hill McLauchlin McDougall
💍 1922/823

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

22
22

Petone
Petone

2 days
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Petone

352

17 February 1922

J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	17 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raphael Cullen McArthur	Agnes Hill McDougall
BDM Match (82%)	Raphael Cullen McArthur	Agnes Hill McLauchlin McDougall
	💍 1922/823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	2 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	352
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1922
Officiating Minister	J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

180

17 February 1922

Robert Harold Scott
Nellie Florence Bulpett

Robert Harold Scott
Nellie Florence Bulpett
💍 1922/830

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

31
23

Wellington
5 Roxburgh Street, Wellington

31 years
17 months

Residence of Mr Scott, 5 Roxburgh Street, Wellington

353

17 February 1922

J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	180
Date of Notice	17 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harold Scott	Nellie Florence Bulpett
	💍 1922/830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	5 Roxburgh Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	31 years	17 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Scott, 5 Roxburgh Street, Wellington
Folio	353
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1922
Officiating Minister	J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

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).