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 1994

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar J. H. Lithgow

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

620

27 June 1923

John Mortimer Davie
Rose Falla

John Mortimer Davie
Rose Falla
💍 1923/10029

Widower
Spinster

Retired Farmer

65
53

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
3 weeks

St Andrew's Church, The Terrace, Wellington

5176

27 June 1923

S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	620
Date of Notice	27 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mortimer Davie	Rose Falla
	💍 1923/10029
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired Farmer
Age	65	53
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5176
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1923
Officiating Minister	S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

621

27 June 1923

James Hanna Irvine
Esma Laura Stevens

James Hanna Irvine
Esma Laura Stevens
💍 1923/8055

Bachelor
Spinster

Monotype Operator

35
20

Wellington
Wellington

32 years
Life

Residence of Bride's Parents, 91 Cook Street, Wellington

2962

William James Stevens, father

27 June 1923

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	621
Date of Notice	27 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hanna Irvine	Esma Laura Stevens
	💍 1923/8055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Monotype Operator
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	32 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, 91 Cook Street, Wellington
Folio	2962
Consent	William James Stevens, father
Date of Certificate	27 June 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

622

27 June 1923

William Alexander Robertson
Barbara Janet Maria Swanson

William Alexander Robertson
Barbara Janet Maria Swanson
💍 1923/8056

Divorced Decree Absolute 21/7/1921
Spinster

Clerk

34
34

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
2 years

Residence of Rev. J. H. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington

2963

27 June 1923

J. H. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	622
Date of Notice	27 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Robertson	Barbara Janet Maria Swanson
	💍 1923/8056
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 21/7/1921	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. H. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	2963
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1923
Officiating Minister	J. H. Elliott, Presbyterian

623

27 June 1923

Thomas Henry Moody
Rosina Wood

Thomas Henry Moody
Rosina Wood
💍 1923/8057

Widower 3/10/1922
Widow 7/6/1919

Labourer

36
43

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
9 years

St James's Church, Wellington South

2964

27 June 1923

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	623
Date of Notice	27 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Moody	Rosina Wood
	💍 1923/8057
Condition	Widower 3/10/1922	Widow 7/6/1919
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St James's Church, Wellington South
Folio	2964
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

624

28 June 1923

Ernest Alfred Ahern
Norah Eileen Hampton Clark

Ernest Alfred Ahern
Norah Eileen Hampton Clark
💍 1923/10040

Divorced Decree Absolute 26/5/1923
Spinster

Clerk

32
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
14 years

St Anne's Church, Wellington South

5177

28 June 1923

M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

No	624
Date of Notice	28 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Ahern	Norah Eileen Hampton Clark
	💍 1923/10040
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 26/5/1923	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	14 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church, Wellington South
Folio	5177
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1923
Officiating Minister	M. Devoy, 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).