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 1803

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar E. B. Chambers

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

2 July 1923

Carl Julius Ekdahl
Ella Mary Brough

Carl Julius Ekdahl
Ella Mary Brough
💍 1923/4658

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

New Plymouth
Taihape

25 years
11 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Taihape

6951

2 July 1923

Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Julius Ekdahl	Ella Mary Brough
	💍 1923/4658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Taihape
Length of Residence	25 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Taihape
Folio	6951
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

14 July 1923

Frank Stanley Adams
Fanny Rose Chalmers

Frank Stanley Adams
Fanny Rose Chalmers
💍 1923/4669

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

25
20

Turangaarere
Turangaarere

1 year
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

6952

Elizabeth Downey, mother

14 July 1923

Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	14 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Stanley Adams	Fanny Rose Chalmers
	💍 1923/4669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Turangaarere	Turangaarere
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	6952
Consent	Elizabeth Downey, mother
Date of Certificate	14 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

31 July 1923

Henry John Bowater
Vera Annie Bryer

Henry John Bowater
Vera Annie Cryer
💍 1923/6024

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier and contractor
Domestic Duties

25
24

Taihape
Mangaweka

3 years
6 months

St. Martin's Anglican Church, Mangaweka

7501

31 July 1923

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	25
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Bowater	Vera Annie Bryer
BDM Match (97%)	Henry John Bowater	Vera Annie Cryer
	💍 1923/6024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier and contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Mangaweka
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Anglican Church, Mangaweka
Folio	7501
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

1 August 1923

Hector Ernest Percival Gardner
Gladys Ivy Hebberd

Hector Ernest Perouf Gardner
Gladys Ivy Hebberd
💍 1923/4677

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

20
21

Utiku
Utiku

3 months
16 years

Trinity Church, Utiku

6954

Percival Gardner, father

1 August 1923

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	26
Date of Notice	1 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Ernest Percival Gardner	Gladys Ivy Hebberd
BDM Match (92%)	Hector Ernest Perouf Gardner	Gladys Ivy Hebberd
	💍 1923/4677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Utiku	Utiku
Length of Residence	3 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Utiku
Folio	6954
Consent	Percival Gardner, father
Date of Certificate	1 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

11 August 1923

John Fisher Thurston
Beatrice Margaret Hollis

John Fisher Thurston
Beatrice Margaret Hollis
💍 1923/4678

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Ohutu
Ohutu

12 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Ohutu

6955

Alfred Hollis, father

11 August 1923

Rev. E. B. Chambers, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	11 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fisher Thurston	Beatrice Margaret Hollis
	💍 1923/4678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ohutu	Ohutu
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ohutu
Folio	6955
Consent	Alfred Hollis, father
Date of Certificate	11 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. B. Chambers, Methodist

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).