Intentions to Marry, 1925 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840532, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925e contains pages 1785-2176, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1801

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar W. H. 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

5 January 1925

Frederick Michael Gerity
Nancy Dorren Douglas

Frederick Michael Gerity
Nancy Doreen Douglas
💍 1925/1408

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Domestic

24
22

Marton
Marton

12 months
7 months

Roman Catholic Church, Marton

2057

5 January 1925

Rev. M. Dillon, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Michael Gerity	Nancy Dorren Douglas
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Michael Gerity	Nancy Doreen Douglas
	💍 1925/1408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	12 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Marton
Folio	2057
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Dillon, Roman Catholic

10 January 1925

Arthur William Evans
Coral Eileen Downs

Arthur William Evans
Coral Eileen Downs
💍 1925/1385

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

23
21

Taihape
Marton Junction

-
5 years

Church of England, Marton

2058

10 January 1925

Rev. J. B. Reed, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Evans	Coral Eileen Downs
	💍 1925/1385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Marton Junction
Length of Residence	-	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	2058
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Reed, Church of England

13 January 1925

Eric John Maxwell Jeffries
Lorraine Beverley Featherstone

Eric John Maxwell Jeffries
Lorraine Beverley Featherstone
💍 1925/1386

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoker 1st Class N.Z. Navy
Domestic duties

19
17

Marton
Marton

7 days
4 days

Residence of Mr. H. Kerr, Kensington Road, Marton

25/2059

Henry Kerr, Guardian; Charles John Jeffries, Father

13 January 1925

H. Daniel, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	13 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric John Maxwell Jeffries	Lorraine Beverley Featherstone
	💍 1925/1386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoker 1st Class N.Z. Navy	Domestic duties
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. Kerr, Kensington Road, Marton
Folio	25/2059
Consent	Henry Kerr, Guardian; Charles John Jeffries, Father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Daniel, Methodist

15 January 1925

Arnold Edward Shelton
Blandine Winifred Marr

Arnold Edward Stratton
Claudine Winifred Marr
💍 1925/1387

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Shop assistant

22
18

Marton
Marton

12 months
18 years

Methodist Church, Marton

2060

Olive Euelda Abel, mother (formerly Marr)

15 January 1925

H. Daniel, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	15 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Edward Shelton	Blandine Winifred Marr
BDM Match (86%)	Arnold Edward Stratton	Claudine Winifred Marr
	💍 1925/1387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Shop assistant
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	12 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Marton
Folio	2060
Consent	Olive Euelda Abel, mother (formerly Marr)
Date of Certificate	15 January 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Daniel, Methodist

15 January 1925

Cyril James Pickett
Jean Brown Ferguson

Cyril James Pickett
Jean Brown Ferguson
💍 1925/1388

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Waitress

27
26

Marton
Marton

7 months
10 months

Church of England, Marton

2061

15 January 1925

J. B. Reed, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	15 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril James Pickett	Jean Brown Ferguson
	💍 1925/1388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Waitress
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	7 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	2061
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. B. Reed, Church of England

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).