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 1841

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 September 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

4 July 1925

William Walker
Mary Elizabeth Dooney

William Walker
Mary Elizabeth Downey
💍 1925/7702

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

43
25

Taihape
Taihape

14 years
25 years

Church of England, Taihape

7709

4 July 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walker	Mary Elizabeth Dooney
BDM Match (98%)	William Walker	Mary Elizabeth Downey
	💍 1925/7702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	14 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taihape
Folio	7709
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

6 July 1925

Robert George Herbert Boles
Ida Susan Maitland

Robert George Herbert Boles
Ida Susan Mortland
💍 1925/7681

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Clerk

34
25

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

7710

6 July 1925

Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	6 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Herbert Boles	Ida Susan Maitland
BDM Match (94%)	Robert George Herbert Boles	Ida Susan Mortland
	💍 1925/7681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Clerk
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	7710
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

14 July 1925

Charles Herbert Dorbidge
Dorothy May Palmer

Charles Herbert Derbidge
Dorothy May Palmer
💍 1925/7682

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter Assistant
Domestic Duties

22
20

Taihape
Taihape

14 years
6 years

Anglican Church, Taihape

7711

Lucy Caroline Palmer (Mother)

14 July 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	14 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Dorbidge	Dorothy May Palmer
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Herbert Derbidge	Dorothy May Palmer
	💍 1925/7682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taihape
Folio	7711
Consent	Lucy Caroline Palmer (Mother)
Date of Certificate	14 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

20 July 1925

George Thomas Lorenzen
Annie Elizabeth George

George Thomas Sorensen
Annie Elizabeth George
💍 1925/7683

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Dressmaker

24
20

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

7712

George Frederick George (Father)

20 July 1925

Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Lorenzen	Annie Elizabeth George
BDM Match (95%)	George Thomas Sorensen	Annie Elizabeth George
	💍 1925/7683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Dressmaker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	7712
Consent	George Frederick George (Father)
Date of Certificate	20 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

22 July 1925

Troy Cameron Matheson
Winifred Garratt

Roy Cameron Matheson
Winifred Garratt
💍 1925/7684

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic Duties

26
24

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
3 months

Anglican Church, Taihape

7713

22 July 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Troy Cameron Matheson	Winifred Garratt
BDM Match (95%)	Roy Cameron Matheson	Winifred Garratt
	💍 1925/7684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taihape
Folio	7713
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

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).