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 2082

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1924 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

986

5 November 1924

Cecil Harold Brown
Gwyneth Abrehamsen

Cecil Harold Brown
Gwynneth Abrehamsen
💍 1924/2773

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
20 years

St Andrews Manse, 19 Bollon Street, Wellington

8418

5 November 1924

S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	986
Date of Notice	5 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Harold Brown	Gwyneth Abrehamsen
BDM Match (97%)	Cecil Harold Brown	Gwynneth Abrehamsen
	💍 1924/2773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Manse, 19 Bollon Street, Wellington
Folio	8418
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1924
Officiating Minister	S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

987

6 November 1924

Aaron Dennis Carpenter
Margaret Louisa Florence Rigarlsford

Aaron Dennis Carpenter
Margaret Louisa Florence Rigarlsford
💍 1925/3671

Divorced, Decree absolute 2.12.1920
Spinster

Timber Worker

35
25

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
22 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

147

6 November 1924

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	987
Date of Notice	6 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aaron Dennis Carpenter	Margaret Louisa Florence Rigarlsford
	💍 1925/3671
Condition	Divorced, Decree absolute 2.12.1920	Spinster
Profession	Timber Worker
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	147
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1924
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

988

6 November 1924

Charles John Clutterbuck
Ellen McGrath

Charles John Clutterbuck
Ellen McGrath
💍 1924/2774

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

30
30

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
10 years

St Annes Church, Wellington South

8419

6 November 1924

P. E. Fallon, Roman Catholic

No	988
Date of Notice	6 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Clutterbuck	Ellen McGrath
	💍 1924/2774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Annes Church, Wellington South
Folio	8419
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1924
Officiating Minister	P. E. Fallon, Roman Catholic

989

6 November 1924

Cyril Hook
Olive Alice White

Cyril Hook
Olive Alice White
💍 1924/2776

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
3 years

St Peters Church, Wellington

8420

6 November 1924

H. Watson, Anglican

No	989
Date of Notice	6 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Hook	Olive Alice White
	💍 1924/2776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	8420
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1924
Officiating Minister	H. Watson, Anglican

990

6 November 1924

John Mackechnie
Margaret Curran

John MacKechnie
Margaret Curran
💍 1924/2777

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 1/1/1923

Ship's Cook

38
38

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
6 days

St Johns Church, Wellington

8421

6 November 1924

J. G. Smith, Presbyterian

No	990
Date of Notice	6 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mackechnie	Margaret Curran
BDM Match (97%)	John MacKechnie	Margaret Curran
	💍 1924/2777
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 1/1/1923
Profession	Ship's Cook
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Wellington
Folio	8421
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1924
Officiating Minister	J. G. Smith, 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).