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 1935

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar H. R. Hesketh

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

131

6 February 1925

John William McPherson
Theresa Mary Caroline Wilson

John William McPherson
Theresa Mary Caroline Wilson
💍 1925/9686

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

27
23

Napier
Wellington

4 years
2 weeks

St. Mark's Church

800

6 February 1925

H. K. Fry, Anglican

No	131
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William McPherson	Theresa Mary Caroline Wilson
	💍 1925/9686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	800
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	H. K. Fry, Anglican

132

6 February 1925

William Forbes Taylor
Ellen Eilan Wilson

William Forbes Taylor
Ellen Eileen Wilson
💍 1925/124

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
1 day

Registrar's Office

801

6 February 1925

Registrar

No	132
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Forbes Taylor	Ellen Eilan Wilson
BDM Match (95%)	William Forbes Taylor	Ellen Eileen Wilson
	💍 1925/124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	801
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

133

6 February 1925

Walker James Haynes
Grace Todd

Walter James Haynes
Grace Todd
💍 1925/135

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

48
34

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

802

6 February 1925

Registrar

No	133
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walker James Haynes	Grace Todd
BDM Match (97%)	Walter James Haynes	Grace Todd
	💍 1925/135
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	802
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

134

6 February 1925

Francis Frederick Doel
Adelaide Emily Svendsen

Francis Frederick Doel
Adelaide Emily Svendsen
💍 1925/142

Divorced (decree absolute 2/2/1925)
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic

34
26

Wellington
Lower Hutt

1 day
7 months

Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington

803

6 February 1925

J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	134
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Frederick Doel	Adelaide Emily Svendsen
	💍 1925/142
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 2/2/1925)	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	1 day	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	803
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

135

6 February 1925

William Rimell
Ethel Mary Murray

William Rimell Scantlebury
Ethel Mary Murray
💍 1925/143

William Kingi
Clarice Mary Murray
💍 1925/4779

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 months

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Wellington

804

6 February 1925

P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	135
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rimell	Ethel Mary Murray
BDM Match (77%)	William Rimell Scantlebury	Ethel Mary Murray
	💍 1925/143
BDM Match (64%)	William Kingi	Clarice Mary Murray
	💍 1925/4779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 months
Marriage Place	The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Wellington
Folio	804
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

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).