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 1781

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar W. M. Diamond

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

14 April 1924

George Edward Hatherly
Mary Alice Lambert

George Edward Hatherly
Mary Alice Lambert
💍 1924/18

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic duties

40
31

Marton
Marton

6 months
10 years

St Stephens Anglican Church, Marton

4738

14 April 1924

Rev J. Hobbs, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	14 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Hatherly	Mary Alice Lambert
	💍 1924/18
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic duties
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Anglican Church, Marton
Folio	4738
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Hobbs, Anglican

15 April 1924

William Henry Arthur Kracey
Beatrice Maude Lobbey

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Forewoman

22
25

Marton Junction
Marton Junction

7 weeks
3 weeks

St Stephens Anglican Church, Marton

4739

15 April 1924

Rev J. Hobbs, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	15 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Arthur Kracey	Beatrice Maude Lobbey
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Forewoman
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Marton Junction	Marton Junction
Length of Residence	7 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Stephens Anglican Church, Marton
Folio	4739
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Hobbs, Anglican

19 April 1924

Reginald Arthur Winchcombe
Beatrice Gwendoline Phippen

Reginald Arthur Winchcombe
Beatrice Gwendoline Phippen
💍 1924/3454

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

19
18

Greatford
Greatford

12 years
18 years

Registrars Office, Marton

4740

William Raven Winchcombe, Father; Amos Frederick Phippen, Father

19 April 1924

The Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	19 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Arthur Winchcombe	Beatrice Gwendoline Phippen
	💍 1924/3454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Greatford	Greatford
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Marton
Folio	4740
Consent	William Raven Winchcombe, Father; Amos Frederick Phippen, Father
Date of Certificate	19 April 1924
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

28 April 1924

Joseph Romard Walker
Mary Cecelia Adam

Joseph Bernard Walker
Mary Cecilia Adam
💍 1924/3455

Widower (Divorced 2nd January 1923)
Widow (Divorced 14th February 1924)

Bootmaker
Domestic duties

48
38

Marton
Marton

8 years
22 years

Residence of Mrs. C. Adam, Marton

4741

28 April 1924

Rev H. Daniel, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	28 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Romard Walker	Mary Cecelia Adam
BDM Match (88%)	Joseph Bernard Walker	Mary Cecilia Adam
	💍 1924/3455
Condition	Widower (Divorced 2nd January 1923)	Widow (Divorced 14th February 1924)
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic duties
Age	48	38
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. C. Adam, Marton
Folio	4741
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Daniel, Methodist

29 April 1924

Douglas Daniel Simpson
Kathleen Burgess

Douglas Daniel Simpson
Kathleen Burgess
💍 1924/3456

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
27

Marton
Hunterville

4 days

Anglican Church, Parewa

4742

29 April 1924

Rev C. V. Rooke, Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	29 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Daniel Simpson	Kathleen Burgess
	💍 1924/3456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Marton	Hunterville
Length of Residence	4 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Parewa
Folio	4742
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev C. V. Rooke, 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).