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 1865

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar A. Hylton

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

29 April 1925

Tumihau Utiku Potaka (Jack Potaka)
Raihania Kaitere

Tumihau Utiku Potaka
Raihania Waitere
💍 1925/4947

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

24
19

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

4754

Meri Downs, mother (famaly Kaitere, mother)

29 April 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	77
Date of Notice	29 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tumihau Utiku Potaka (Jack Potaka)	Raihania Kaitere
BDM Match (76%)	Tumihau Utiku Potaka	Raihania Waitere
	💍 1925/4947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	4754
Consent	Meri Downs, mother (famaly Kaitere, mother)
Date of Certificate	29 April 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

30 April 1925

William James Bornick
Elsie Sharman Adams

William James Cornick
Elsie Sharman Adams
💍 1925/4948

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Dressmaker

27
27

Wanganui
Wanganui

25 years
6 months

Mr G. D. Verco's Residence, 31 Young Street, Wanganui

4755

30 April 1925

G. D. Verco, Church of Christ

No	78
Date of Notice	30 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Bornick	Elsie Sharman Adams
BDM Match (98%)	William James Cornick	Elsie Sharman Adams
	💍 1925/4948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Dressmaker
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	25 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Mr G. D. Verco's Residence, 31 Young Street, Wanganui
Folio	4755
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1925
Officiating Minister	G. D. Verco, Church of Christ

30 April 1925

Norman Victor Henry Paul
Phyllis Violet Sampson

Norman Victor Henry Paul
Phyllis Violet Sampson
💍 1925/4949

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Printer

37
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

14 years
21 years

Christ Church, Wanganui

4756

30 April 1925

W. T. Weller, Church of England

No	79
Date of Notice	30 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Victor Henry Paul	Phyllis Violet Sampson
	💍 1925/4949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Printer
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Wanganui
Folio	4756
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1925
Officiating Minister	W. T. Weller, Church of England

1 May 1925

Nelson Harry Ellis
Emma Caroline Moss

Nelson Harry Ellis
Emma Caroline Moss
💍 1925/4950

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter-Barman
Domestic

24
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 months
8 months

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

4757

1 May 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	1 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Harry Ellis	Emma Caroline Moss
	💍 1925/4950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter-Barman	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	4757
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

2 May 1925

Henry Leonard Jeffs
Emilie Lind

Henry Leonard Jeffs
Emilie Lind
💍 1925/4927

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

69
66

Wanganui
Wanganui

7 days
30 years

Mr A. D. Smith's Residence, 6 Sydney Place, Wanganui

4758

2 May 1925

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	2 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Leonard Jeffs	Emilie Lind
	💍 1925/4927
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	69	66
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	7 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Mr A. D. Smith's Residence, 6 Sydney Place, Wanganui
Folio	4758
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).