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 1809

District of Taihape Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar [illegible]

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

20 November 1923

Henry Alexander Holmes
Gladys Rosa Keys

Henry Alexander Holmes
Gladys Rosa Leys
💍 1923/7262

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Clerk

26
23

Taihape
Wellington

2 months
23 years

St Matthews Anglican Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

9459

20 November 1923

Rev. A. H. Compton, Anglican

No	43
Date of Notice	20 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander Holmes	Gladys Rosa Keys
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Alexander Holmes	Gladys Rosa Leys
	💍 1923/7262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Anglican Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	9459
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Compton, Anglican

26 November 1923

Claude Rogers Anderson
Sarah Barson Fitzpatrick

Claude Rogers Anderson
Sarah Carson Kirkpatrick
💍 1923/7263

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
17

Taihape
Taihape

11 months
12 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Taihape

9460

John Francis Fitzpatrick, Father

26 November 1923

Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	26 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Rogers Anderson	Sarah Barson Fitzpatrick
BDM Match (92%)	Claude Rogers Anderson	Sarah Carson Kirkpatrick
	💍 1923/7263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	11 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Taihape
Folio	9460
Consent	John Francis Fitzpatrick, Father
Date of Certificate	26 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

11 December 1923

Albert Edward Dean
Hazel Welch

Albert Edward Dean
Hazel Welch
💍 1924/8161

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

23
19

Winiata
Winiata

20 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

Ernest Robert Hart Welch, Father

11 December 1923

Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	11 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Dean	Hazel Welch
	💍 1924/8161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Winiata	Winiata
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	96
Consent	Ernest Robert Hart Welch, Father
Date of Certificate	11 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

17 December 1923

Colin James Bradley
Eunice Hannah Williams

Colin James Bradley
Eunice Hannah William
💍 1924/8173

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
28

Mataroa
Mataroa

18 months
20 years

St. George's Anglican Church, Mataroa

183

17 December 1923

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	17 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin James Bradley	Eunice Hannah Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Colin James Bradley	Eunice Hannah William
	💍 1924/8173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Mataroa	Mataroa
Length of Residence	18 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Anglican Church, Mataroa
Folio	183
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

24 December 1923

Reuben Spear
Nellie Lillian Broome

Reuben Spear
Nellie Lilian Broome
💍 1924/8162

Divorced (Decree absolute 24:10:23)
Spinster

Vulcanizer
Domestic Duties

37
24

Taihape
Taihape

9 days
24 years

Methodist Church, Taihape

24 December 1923

Rev. E. B. Chambers, Methodist

No	47
Date of Notice	24 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Spear	Nellie Lillian Broome
BDM Match (98%)	Reuben Spear	Nellie Lilian Broome
	💍 1924/8162
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 24:10:23)	Spinster
Profession	Vulcanizer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	9 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taihape
Folio	97
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 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).