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 1803

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

19 February 1925

David Petrie Bell
Lily Fairweather

David Petrie Bell
Lily Fairweather
💍 1925/1910

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

28
24

Marton
Marton

3 months
2 months

Residence of Mr. Archibald, Morris Street, Marton

2610

19 February 1925

D. McIvor, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Petrie Bell	Lily Fairweather
	💍 1925/1910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Archibald, Morris Street, Marton
Folio	2610
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	D. McIvor, Presbyterian

20 February 1925

Lionel Arthur Breathwell Smith
Catherine Frances Welch

Lionel Arthur Cracknell Smith
Catherine Frances Welch
💍 1925/1911

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

22
25

Marton
Marton

21 years
9 months

Residence of Luke Smith, Dalauni, Marton

2611

20 February 1925

D. McIvor, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Arthur Breathwell Smith	Catherine Frances Welch
BDM Match (92%)	Lionel Arthur Cracknell Smith	Catherine Frances Welch
	💍 1925/1911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	21 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Luke Smith, Dalauni, Marton
Folio	2611
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	D. McIvor, Presbyterian

25 February 1925

Manford Hyall William George
Gladys Rosina Sanson

Romford Lyall William George
Gladys Rosina Sanson
💍 1925/1394

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
17

Sanson
Marton

2 months

Methodist Church, Marton

2067

Alfred Henry Sanson, Father

25 February 1925

H. Daniel, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	25 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Manford Hyall William George	Gladys Rosina Sanson
BDM Match (93%)	Romford Lyall William George	Gladys Rosina Sanson
	💍 1925/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Sanson	Marton
Length of Residence		2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Marton
Folio	2067
Consent	Alfred Henry Sanson, Father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Daniel, Methodist

2 March 1925

Laurence Gilbert Morris
Theodora Hannah Bruce

Laurence Gilbert Morris
Theodora Hannah Greene
💍 1925/1912

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Servant

22
18

Marton
Marton

11 years
1 month

Presbyterian Church, Marton

2612

No one in New Zealand authorized by law

2 March 1925

D. McIvor, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Gilbert Morris	Theodora Hannah Bruce
BDM Match (91%)	Laurence Gilbert Morris	Theodora Hannah Greene
	💍 1925/1912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Servant
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	11 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Marton
Folio	2612
Consent	No one in New Zealand authorized by law
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	D. McIvor, Presbyterian

25 March 1925

Matthew Kevan
Frances Hettford

Matthew Bevan
Frances Letford
💍 1925/1396

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi driver
Domestic duties

37
26

Marton
Marton

7 years
6 years

Church of England, Marton

2068

25 March 1925

J. B. Reed, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	25 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Kevan	Frances Hettford
BDM Match (90%)	Matthew Bevan	Frances Letford
	💍 1925/1396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi driver	Domestic duties
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	2068
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 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).