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 1845

District of Taihape Quarter ending 31 December 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

5 October 1925

William Walter Gibbon
Mary O'Halloran

William Walter Gibbons
Mary O'Halloran
💍 1925/10527

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Employee
Hotel Employee

40
35

Taihape
Taihape

5 months
10 months

Catholic Presbytery

9915

6 October 1925

Father Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Gibbon	Mary O'Halloran
BDM Match (98%)	William Walter Gibbons	Mary O'Halloran
	💍 1925/10527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Employee	Hotel Employee
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	5 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery
Folio	9915
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Father Harnett, Roman Catholic

2 November 1925

Donald McLeay
Evelyn Sarah Groves

Donald McLeay
Evelyn Sarah Groves
💍 1925/10528

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
34

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
3 years

Church of England

9916

2 November 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	2 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McLeay	Evelyn Sarah Groves
	💍 1925/10528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	9916
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

2 November 1925

Fred Howard West
Elise Beryl Arrow

Fred Howard West
Olive Beryl Arrow
💍 1925/10529

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic Duties

23
21

Hitataki
Turangaarere

6 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church

9917

2 November 1925

Rev. J. Hall, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	2 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Howard West	Elise Beryl Arrow
BDM Match (94%)	Fred Howard West	Olive Beryl Arrow
	💍 1925/10529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hitataki	Turangaarere
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	9917
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hall, Presbyterian

9 November 1925

William Waterhouse
Laura Winifred Bassett

William Waterhouse
Laura Winifred Perrett
💍 1925/10530

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z. Railways
Draper Assistant

25
21

Taihape
Taihape

16 months
12 months

Church of England

9918

9 November 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	9 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Waterhouse	Laura Winifred Bassett
BDM Match (91%)	William Waterhouse	Laura Winifred Perrett
	💍 1925/10530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z. Railways	Draper Assistant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	16 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	9918
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

30 November 1925

Clifford John Waugh
Hilda May Deadman

Clifford John Waugh
Hilda May Deadman
💍 1925/10531

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic Duties

21
19

Waimiha
Utiku

1 month
2 years

Registrar's Office

9919

Minnie Deadman, Aunt

30 November 1925

M. Vernon, Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	30 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford John Waugh	Hilda May Deadman
	💍 1925/10531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Waimiha	Utiku
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	9919
Consent	Minnie Deadman, Aunt
Date of Certificate	30 November 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).