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 2014

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1924 Registrar R. A. Younger

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

656

8 July 1924

James Chamberlain
Bertha Snodgrass

James Chamberlain
Bertha Snodgrass
💍 1924/2329

Widower (6/7/1924)
Widow (5/5/1919)

Fruiterer

47
45

Petone
Petone

19 years
2 years

Residence of Bride, 305 Jackson Street, Petone

5526

8 July 1924

Ja Lochore, Methodist

No	656
Date of Notice	8 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Chamberlain	Bertha Snodgrass
	💍 1924/2329
Condition	Widower (6/7/1924)	Widow (5/5/1919)
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	47	45
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, 305 Jackson Street, Petone
Folio	5526
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Ja Lochore, Methodist

657

8 July 1924

John Patrick Sullivan
Nora Annie Kenny

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

38
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
Life

St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

8 July 1924

K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	657
Date of Notice	8 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick Sullivan	Nora Annie Kenny
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1924
Officiating Minister	K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

658

9 July 1924

Alexander James Drummond
Nance Reid Wood

Alexander James Drummond
Nance Reid Wood
💍 1924/2336

Widower (22/11/1914)
Widow (6/1907)

Custodian

57
51

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
10 years

Residence of Mr. J. Reid, 7 Oriental Street, Petone

5527

9 July 1924

Ja McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	658
Date of Notice	9 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James Drummond	Nance Reid Wood
	💍 1924/2336
Condition	Widower (22/11/1914)	Widow (6/1907)
Profession	Custodian
Age	57	51
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Reid, 7 Oriental Street, Petone
Folio	5527
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Ja McKenzie, Presbyterian

659

9 July 1924

Henry Martin Brown
Grace Beatrice Stevens

Henry Martin Brown
Grace Beatrice Stevens
💍 1924/2337

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army officer

31
33

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
3 years

Salvation Army Citadel, Vivian Street, Wellington

5528

9 July 1924

Commissioner R. Hoggard

No	659
Date of Notice	9 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Martin Brown	Grace Beatrice Stevens
	💍 1924/2337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army officer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	5528
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Commissioner R. Hoggard

660

9 July 1924

Fredrick Maurice Edwards
Gladys Mabel Anderson

Fredrick Maurice Edwards
Gladys Mabel Anderson
💍 1924/2338

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

30
20

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
16 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

5529

Section 27

23 July 1924

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	660
Date of Notice	9 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Maurice Edwards	Gladys Mabel Anderson
	💍 1924/2338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	5529
Consent	Section 27
Date of Certificate	23 July 1924
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).