Intentions to Marry, 1923 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840516, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923e contains pages 1745-2124, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1797

District of Taihape Quarter ending 31 March 1923

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

11 January 1923

Peter Joseph Karam
Rosa Brooky

Peter Joseph Karam
Rosa Brooky
💍 1923/2441

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

28
21

Mataroa
Mataroa

10 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church, Mataroa

2084

11 January 1923

Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Joseph Karam	Rosa Brooky
	💍 1923/2441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Mataroa	Mataroa
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Mataroa
Folio	2084
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

13 January 1923

Arnold Grierson Lamont Cork
Mary Georgina McElwain

Arnold Grierson Lamont Cork
Mary Georgina McElwain
💍 1923/2442

Bachelor
Spinster

Agricultural Instructor
Household Duties

24
24

Taihape
Taihape

2 years
6 years

St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape

2085

13 January 1923

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Grierson Lamont Cork	Mary Georgina McElwain
	💍 1923/2442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agricultural Instructor	Household Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape
Folio	2085
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

29 January 1923

John Hew Dalrymple
Dorothy Snelling

John Hew Dalrymple
Dorothy Snelling
💍 1923/2443

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
27

Mangaweka
Moawhango

1 year
8 years

St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape

2086

29 January 1923

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	29 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hew Dalrymple	Dorothy Snelling
	💍 1923/2443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Mangaweka	Moawhango
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape
Folio	2086
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

29 January 1923

Stanley Joseph Howes
Hannah Eliza Olsen

Stanley Joseph Howes
Hannah Eliza Olsen
💍 1923/2444

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Winiata
Winiata

1 month
7 months

Registrar's Office, Taihape

2087

29 January 1923

A. L. Berry, Registrar, Taihape

No	4
Date of Notice	29 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Joseph Howes	Hannah Eliza Olsen
	💍 1923/2444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Winiata	Winiata
Length of Residence	1 month	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taihape
Folio	2087
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1923
Officiating Minister	A. L. Berry, Registrar, Taihape

1 February 1923

Henry William Waugh
Airini Viola Beattie

Henry William Waugh
Airini Viola Beattie
💍 1923/2445

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Draper's Assistant

19
21

Taihape
Taihape

1 year
15 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Taihape

2088

Jane Waugh, mother

1 February 1923

Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	1 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Waugh	Airini Viola Beattie
	💍 1923/2445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Draper's Assistant
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Taihape
Folio	2088
Consent	Jane Waugh, mother
Date of Certificate	1 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father C. 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).