Intentions to Marry, 1924 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840524, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924e contains pages 1759-2128, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1773

District of Raetihi Quarter ending 31 December 1924 Registrar A. W. Ashwell

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

25 October 1924

Walter William Augustus Albertus Charles Bandelow
Irene Gray Celimo

Walter William Augustus Albertus Charles Bandelow
Ireane May Climo
💍 1924/7365

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic duties

36
17

Horopito
Wilson's Mill, Raetihi

12 years
2 years

Wilson's Mill hall

9736

Walter Richard Celimo, Father

25 October 1924

Rev. J. J. Heard, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	25 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Augustus Albertus Charles Bandelow	Irene Gray Celimo
BDM Match (88%)	Walter William Augustus Albertus Charles Bandelow	Ireane May Climo
	💍 1924/7365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	36	17
Dwelling Place	Horopito	Wilson's Mill, Raetihi
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wilson's Mill hall
Folio	9736
Consent	Walter Richard Celimo, Father
Date of Certificate	25 October 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Heard, Presbyterian

28 November 1924

Frederick Wootton Terry Firkin
Ethel May Hinemoa Wilson

Frederick Wootton Terry Firkin
Ethel May Hinemoa Wilson
💍 1924/7366

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

21
20

Raetihi
Raetihi

3 days
3 days

Anglican Church, Raetihi

9737

Joseph Wilson, Father

28 November 1924

Rev. H. E. Jones, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	28 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Wootton Terry Firkin	Ethel May Hinemoa Wilson
	💍 1924/7366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Raetihi
Folio	9737
Consent	Joseph Wilson, Father
Date of Certificate	28 November 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Jones, Anglican

11 December 1924

Cecil Rowlandson
Isabella McCutchon Mackie

Cecil Rowlandson
Isabella McCutchon Mackie
💍 1924/7367

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

23
27

Raetihi
Wellington

2 months
7 days

St Peter's Anglican Church, Wellington

9738

11 December 1924

Rev. Watson, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	11 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Rowlandson	Isabella McCutchon Mackie
	💍 1924/7367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	7 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's Anglican Church, Wellington
Folio	9738
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Watson, Anglican

16 December 1924

Walter Drummond Allan
Myrtle Emma Cave

Walter Drummond Allan
Myrtle Emma Cave
💍 1924/7368

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
22

Raetihi
Raetihi

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Raetihi

9739

16 December 1924

A. W. Ashwell, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	16 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Drummond Allan	Myrtle Emma Cave
	💍 1924/7368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Raetihi
Folio	9739
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1924
Officiating Minister	A. W. Ashwell, Registrar

19 December 1924

Oswald Spiller
Gladys May Coleman

Oswald Spiller
Gladys May Coleman
💍 1924/7717

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Teacher

33
29

Tokako
Horopito

4 years
15 months

Anglican Church, Raetihi

10266

19 December 1924

Rev. H. E. Jones, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	19 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Spiller	Gladys May Coleman
	💍 1924/7717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Teacher
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Tokako	Horopito
Length of Residence	4 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Raetihi
Folio	10266
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Jones, Anglican

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).