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 1951

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar H. R. R. [illegible]

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

211

28 February 1925

Raymond Hassel
Margaret Mavis Fraser

Raymond Hassel Laird
Margaret Mavis Fraser
💍 1925/797

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Worker

25
16

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
4 months

Registrar's office, Wellington

877

Ada Lucy Fraser, mother

28 February 1925

Registrar

No	211
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Hassel	Margaret Mavis Fraser
BDM Match (85%)	Raymond Hassel Laird	Margaret Mavis Fraser
	💍 1925/797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Worker
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Wellington
Folio	877
Consent	Ada Lucy Fraser, mother
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

212

28 February 1925

John Edward Jenkins
Margaret Veronica McAteer

John Edward Jenkins
Margaret Veronica McAteer
💍 1925/804

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Bus Proprietor

24
26

Masterton
Wellington

13 years
6 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

878

28 February 1925

M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	212
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Jenkins	Margaret Veronica McAteer
	💍 1925/804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Bus Proprietor
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	878
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

213

28 February 1925

Ernest John Benson
Doris Crutchley

Ernest John Binson
Doris Crutchley
💍 1925/805

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
4 years

St Mark's Church, Wellington

879

28 February 1925

J. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	213
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Benson	Doris Crutchley
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest John Binson	Doris Crutchley
	💍 1925/805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	879
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. F. Taylor, Anglican

214

2 March 1925

Henry John George Heine
Mattie Munro Mellor

Henry John George Heine
Mattie Munro Mellor
💍 1925/806

Divorced (Decree Absolute 18/12/1919)
Widow (8/4/1924)

Butcher

41
38

Wellington
Wellington

1 day
1 week

Registrar's office, Wellington

880

2 March 1925

Registrar

No	214
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John George Heine	Mattie Munro Mellor
	💍 1925/806
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 18/12/1919)	Widow (8/4/1924)
Profession	Butcher
Age	41	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 day	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Wellington
Folio	880
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

215

3 March 1925

Robert George Prain
Christina Dolly Shearer Forsyth

Robert George Nairn
Christina Dolly Shearor Forsyth
💍 1925/807

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

28
29

Wellington
Wellington

1 day
8 months

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

881

3 March 1925

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	215
Date of Notice	3 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Prain	Christina Dolly Shearer Forsyth
BDM Match (91%)	Robert George Nairn	Christina Dolly Shearor Forsyth
	💍 1925/807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 day	8 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	881
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

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).