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 1819

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1924 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

4 April 1924

Henry Newcombe Horsnell
Norah Caroline Ormond

Henry Newcombe Horsnell
Norah Caroline Ormond
💍 1924/3475

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Domestic Duties

27
27

Hamilton
Taihape

18 months
17 years

St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape

4761

4 April 1924

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	4 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Newcombe Horsnell	Norah Caroline Ormond
	💍 1924/3475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Taihape
Length of Residence	18 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape
Folio	4761
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

7 April 1924

Frederick William Atkins
Myrtle Olina Thoresen

Frederick William Atkins
Myrtle Olina Thoresen
💍 1924/3476

Divorced Decree absolute 17-11-21
Spinster

Locomotive Enginedriver
Domestic Duties

34
21

Taihape
Taihape

2 years
2 years

St. David's Presbyterian Church, Taihape

4762

7 April 1924

Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	7 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Atkins	Myrtle Olina Thoresen
	💍 1924/3476
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 17-11-21	Spinster
Profession	Locomotive Enginedriver	Domestic Duties
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	4762
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

8 April 1924

Harold Leonard Bosher
Eileen Francess Bennett

Harold Leonard Bosher
Eileen Francess Bennett
💍 1924/3477

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

21
20

Taihape
Mataroa

20 years
16 years

St. George's Church of England, Mataroa

4763

Matthew Bennett, Father

8 April 1924

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	8 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Leonard Bosher	Eileen Francess Bennett
	💍 1924/3477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Mataroa
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church of England, Mataroa
Folio	4763
Consent	Matthew Bennett, Father
Date of Certificate	8 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

16 April 1924

David Hiven
Clarice Myrtle Buckman

David Niven
Clarice Myrtle Buckman
💍 1924/3478

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical engineer
Musician

35
32

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
6 hours

St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape

4764

16 April 1924

Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	16 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hiven	Clarice Myrtle Buckman
BDM Match (95%)	David Niven	Clarice Myrtle Buckman
	💍 1924/3478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical engineer	Musician
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	6 hours
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's Church of England, Taihape
Folio	4764
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Stent, Anglican

22 April 1924

George Thomas McDougal
Florence Jessie Cummings

George Thomas McDougal
Florence Jessie Cummings
💍 1924/3479

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop assistant
Domestic Duties

25
25

Moawhango
Moawhango

9 years
8 years

Mr. A. Venner's Residence, Moa Street, Taihape

4765

22 April 1924

Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	22 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas McDougal	Florence Jessie Cummings
	💍 1924/3479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Moawhango	Moawhango
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Mr. A. Venner's Residence, Moa Street, Taihape
Folio	4765
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

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).