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 1903

District of Waverley Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. E. Henderson

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

14 April 1925

George Agate
Agnes Drummond Johnstone

George Agate
Agnes Drummond Johnstone
💍 1925/4123

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber mill hand
Domestic duties

22
25

Waverley
Waverley

21 months
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Waverley

4798

14 April 1925

Rev. E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	14 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Agate	Agnes Drummond Johnstone
	💍 1925/4123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	21 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waverley
Folio	4798
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

27 April 1925

Norman John Campbell
Edith Margaret Davis

Norman John Campbell
Edith Margaret Davis
💍 1925/3428

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
20

Waverley
Waverley

14 years
11 years

Residence of Thomas John Davis, Waverley

4799

Thomas John Bennie Davis, father

27 April 1925

Rev. E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	27 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman John Campbell	Edith Margaret Davis
	💍 1925/3428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	14 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas John Davis, Waverley
Folio	4799
Consent	Thomas John Bennie Davis, father
Date of Certificate	27 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

29 May 1925

James Farr
Sheila Annie Cameron

James Farr
Sheila Annie Cameron
💍 1925/5516

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

46
30

Waverley
Kakaramea

9 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Patea

5335

29 May 1925

Rev. E. Phelan, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Farr	Sheila Annie Cameron
	💍 1925/5516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Kakaramea
Length of Residence	9 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Patea
Folio	5335
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Phelan, Roman Catholic

1 June 1925

Vivian Stanley McMurray
Annie McNab

Vivian Stanley McMurray
Annie McNab
💍 1925/3429

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typiste

28
27

Waverley
Waverley

5 years
1 month

Residence of F. Alexander, Waverley

4800

1 June 1925

Rev. E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	1 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Stanley McMurray	Annie McNab
	💍 1925/3429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typiste
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	5 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of F. Alexander, Waverley
Folio	4800
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

1 June 1925

Franklin Wallis Armstrong
Vera Isabel Smith

Franklin Wallis Armstrong
Vera Isabel Smith
💍 1925/7603

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Music teacher

22
23

Ngutuwera
Ngutuwera

3 years
3 years

Public Hall, Ngutuwera

7608

1 June 1925

Rev. Kelly, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	1 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franklin Wallis Armstrong	Vera Isabel Smith
	💍 1925/7603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Music teacher
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Ngutuwera	Ngutuwera
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall, Ngutuwera
Folio	7608
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Kelly, Church of England

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).