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 1937

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar M. K. Thorpe

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

141

7 February 1925

Thomas Denis Reidy
Eileen Lenore Hoagins

Thomas Enis Reidy
Eileen Lenore Hodgins
💍 1925/125

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Wireman

28
26

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

5 years
22 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

810

7 February 1925

J. Walsh, Roman Catholic

No	141
Date of Notice	7 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Denis Reidy	Eileen Lenore Hoagins
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Enis Reidy	Eileen Lenore Hodgins
	💍 1925/125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Wireman
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	810
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Walsh, Roman Catholic

142

9 February 1925

Samuel Robert John McGluggage
Ethel May James

Samuel Robert John McCluggage
Ethel May James
💍 1925/126

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk

21
21

Khandallah
Wellington

life
life

St. Andrew's Manse, 19 Bolton Street, Wellington

811

9 February 1925

S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Robert John McGluggage	Ethel May James
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Robert John McCluggage	Ethel May James
	💍 1925/126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Khandallah	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, 19 Bolton Street, Wellington
Folio	811
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

143

9 February 1925

Joseph Cowan
Helen Leith Harvey

Joseph Cowan
Helen Leith Harvey
💍 1925/127

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
1 year

Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington

812

9 February 1925

F. B. Lawrence, Methodist

No	143
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Cowan	Helen Leith Harvey
	💍 1925/127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	812
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	F. B. Lawrence, Methodist

144

9 February 1925

Herbert John Johnson
Phyllis Christina Nalder

Herbert John Johnson
Phyllis Christena Nalder
💍 1925/128

Widower
Spinster

Printer's Machinist

29
26

Wellington
Khandallah

2 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Khandallah

813

9 February 1925

D. J. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	144
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Johnson	Phyllis Christina Nalder
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert John Johnson	Phyllis Christena Nalder
	💍 1925/128
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer's Machinist
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Khandallah
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Khandallah
Folio	813
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	D. J. Shaw, Presbyterian

145

9 February 1925

Stewart Charles Gordon
Daphne Mona Violet Press

Stewart Charles Gordon
Daphne Mona Violet Press
💍 1925/129

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
life

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

814

23 February 1925

J. V. Spillane, Roman Catholic

No	145
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Charles Gordon	Daphne Mona Violet Press
	💍 1925/129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	life
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	814
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. V. Spillane, 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).