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 1887

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar H. 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

178

5 October 1925

Joseph Greaves
Louisa Putt

Joseph Greaves
Louisa Putt
💍 1926/2385

Widower
Widow

Land Agent
Nurse

66
47

Wanganui
Wanganui

45 years
15 years

St. John's Church of England, Wanganui

5 October 1925

E. W. Coles, Church of England

No	178
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Greaves	Louisa Putt
	💍 1926/2385
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Land Agent	Nurse
Age	66	47
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	45 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Wanganui
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	E. W. Coles, Church of England

179

5 October 1925

Victor Sydney Smith
Maud Alice McKelvey

Victor Sydney Smith
Maud Alice McKelvey
💍 1925/10219

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Domestic

35
27

Wanganui
Wanganui

8 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

9928

5 October 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	179
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Sydney Smith	Maud Alice McKelvey
	💍 1925/10219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Domestic
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	9928
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

180

5 October 1925

Leslie George Brozier
Ellen Glenworth

Leslie George Crozier
Ellen Glentworth
💍 1925/10220

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

26
27

Wanganui
Wanganui

12 months
1 day

Christ Church, Wanganui

9929

5 October 1925

E. W. Coles, Church of England

No	180
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie George Brozier	Ellen Glenworth
BDM Match (95%)	Leslie George Crozier	Ellen Glentworth
	💍 1925/10220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	12 months	1 day
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Wanganui
Folio	9929
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	E. W. Coles, Church of England

181

6 October 1925

George William Moore
Leila Bonnor O'Brien

George William Moore
Leila Connor O'Brien
💍 1925/10221

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Dressmaker

29
32

Wanganui
Wanganui

5 years
22 years

Mrs. O'Brien's Residence, 61 Somme Parade, Wanganui

9930

6 October 1925

Geo. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	181
Date of Notice	6 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Moore	Leila Bonnor O'Brien
BDM Match (98%)	George William Moore	Leila Connor O'Brien
	💍 1925/10221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Dressmaker
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. O'Brien's Residence, 61 Somme Parade, Wanganui
Folio	9930
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Geo. Mahony, Roman Catholic

182

6 October 1925

Frank Edward Kitchener Lawson
Eileen Merle Maxwell

Frank Edward Kitchener Pawson
Eileen Merle Maxwell
💍 1925/10222

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Home duties

25
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

1 month
2 weeks

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

9931

6 October 1925

John Paterson, Presbyterian

No	182
Date of Notice	6 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Edward Kitchener Lawson	Eileen Merle Maxwell
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Edward Kitchener Pawson	Eileen Merle Maxwell
	💍 1925/10222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	1 month	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	9931
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1925
Officiating Minister	John Paterson, Presbyterian

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).