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 1837

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar M. Vernon

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

3 April 1925

Joseph Isaac Beckes
Eilen Margaret Donovan

Joseph Isaac Becker
Eileen Margaret Donovan
💍 1925/4851

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Duties

30
24

Taihape
Taihape

2 1/2 years
20 years

Anglican Church, Taihape

4724

3 April 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	3 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Isaac Beckes	Eilen Margaret Donovan
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Isaac Becker	Eileen Margaret Donovan
	💍 1925/4851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taihape
Folio	4724
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

7 April 1925

David Currie Mersen
Catherine Edith Anderson

David Currie Missen
Catherine Edith Anderson
💍 1925/4862

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

25
20

Taorua, Taihape
6 hotu, Taihape

23 years
12 years

Methodist Church, Taihape

4725

William Robert Anderson, Father

4 April 1925

Rev. J. Reid, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Currie Mersen	Catherine Edith Anderson
BDM Match (95%)	David Currie Missen	Catherine Edith Anderson
	💍 1925/4862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Taorua, Taihape	6 hotu, Taihape
Length of Residence	23 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taihape
Folio	4725
Consent	William Robert Anderson, Father
Date of Certificate	4 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reid, Methodist

7 April 1925

Atheletan Jenkins
Isabella May Cameron

Athelstan Jenkins
Isabella May Cameron
💍 1925/4869

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Waitress

24
19

Taihape
Taihape

5 1/4 years
10 years

St David's Presbyterian Church, Taihape

4726

James Cameron, Father

4 April 1925

Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Atheletan Jenkins	Isabella May Cameron
BDM Match (97%)	Athelstan Jenkins	Isabella May Cameron
	💍 1925/4869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Waitress
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	5 1/4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St David's Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	4726
Consent	James Cameron, Father
Date of Certificate	4 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

8 April 1925

Frank Graf
Phebe Jane Hunt

Frank Graf
Phoebe Jane Hunt
💍 1925/4870

Bachelor
Divorced

Engine Driver
Housekeeper

50
38

Winiala
Winiala

9 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Taihape

4727

8 April 1925

M. Vernon, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Graf	Phebe Jane Hunt
BDM Match (97%)	Frank Graf	Phoebe Jane Hunt
	💍 1925/4870
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Engine Driver	Housekeeper
Age	50	38
Dwelling Place	Winiala	Winiala
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taihape
Folio	4727
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	M. Vernon, Registrar

15 April 1925

Ernest Solomon
Edith Flora Edna Smith

Ernest Soloman
Edith Flora Edna Smith
💍 1925/4871

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Servant
Clerk

22
20 years 11 months

Taihape
Taihape

2 months
5 days

Registrar's Office, Taihape

4728

14 Days notice given

15 April 1925

M. Vernon, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	15 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Solomon	Edith Flora Edna Smith
BDM Match (96%)	Ernest Soloman	Edith Flora Edna Smith
	💍 1925/4871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant	Clerk
Age	22	20 years 11 months
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taihape
Folio	4728
Consent	14 Days notice given
Date of Certificate	15 April 1925
Officiating Minister	M. Vernon, 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).

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).