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 1924

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar W. P. P. P. [illegible]love

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

216

6 March 1924

Young Sing
Joe Quing

Young Sing
Joe Quing
💍 1924/328

Previously married in China
Previously married in China

Cook

31
21

Heretaunga
Heretaunga

4 years
16 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

664

6 March 1924

Registrar

No	216
Date of Notice	6 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Young Sing	Joe Quing
	💍 1924/328
Condition	Previously married in China	Previously married in China
Profession	Cook
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Heretaunga	Heretaunga
Length of Residence	4 years	16 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	664
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

217

6 March 1924

Trevor James Philips
Grace Eileen Carruthers

Trevor James Philips
Grace Eileen Carruthers
💍 1924/201

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Servant

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
11 years

St. Andrew's Church, Wellington

388

Joseph Carruthers, father

6 March 1924

S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	217
Date of Notice	6 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor James Philips	Grace Eileen Carruthers
	💍 1924/201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Servant
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Wellington
Folio	388
Consent	Joseph Carruthers, father
Date of Certificate	6 March 1924
Officiating Minister	S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

218

8 March 1924

John Alexander Bruce
Beatrice Hobman

John Alexander Bruce
Beatrice Hobman
💍 1924/202

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

36
28

Wellington
Wellington

36 years
17 years

Methodist Church, Maranui, Wellington

389

8 March 1924

E. J. Olds, Methodist

No	218
Date of Notice	8 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Bruce	Beatrice Hobman
	💍 1924/202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	36 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Maranui, Wellington
Folio	389
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1924
Officiating Minister	E. J. Olds, Methodist

219

8 March 1924

Norman Morrison
Isabella Bell Ledingham

Norman Morrison
Isabella Bell Ledingham
💍 1924/203

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman

38
38

Residence of Mrs Cook, 131 Shugace Street, Wellington
Residence of Mrs Cook, 131 Shugace Street, Wellington

9 years
17 years

Residence of Mrs Cook, 131 Shugace Street, Wellington

390

8 March 1924

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	219
Date of Notice	8 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Morrison	Isabella Bell Ledingham
	💍 1924/203
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Residence of Mrs Cook, 131 Shugace Street, Wellington	Residence of Mrs Cook, 131 Shugace Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Cook, 131 Shugace Street, Wellington
Folio	390
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1924
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

220

8 March 1924

Bryan Thomas Elsmore
Maud Webb

Bryan Thomas Elsmore
Maud Webb
💍 1924/329

Divorced (decree absolute 25-2-1924)
Widow

Master Mariner

43
51

Heretaunga
Heretaunga

3 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

665

8 March 1924

Registrar

No	220
Date of Notice	8 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bryan Thomas Elsmore	Maud Webb
	💍 1924/329
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 25-2-1924)	Widow
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	43	51
Dwelling Place	Heretaunga	Heretaunga
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	665
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).