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 2019

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. H. 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

536

2 June 1925

Jack Heathcote Duncan
Vera Gwendolen Bennet

Jack Heathcote Duncan
Vera Gwendolen Bennet
💍 1925/3410

Jack Heathcote Duncan
Vera Gwendolen Bennet
💍 1925/3539

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

75
26

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
3 weeks

St. Peter's Church

2815

2 June 1925

H. Watson, Anglican

No	536
Date of Notice	2 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Heathcote Duncan	Vera Gwendolen Bennet
	💍 1925/3410
	💍 1925/3539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	75	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	2815
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Watson, Anglican

537

2 June 1925

John Abernethy
Margaret Johnson

John Abernethy
Margaret Johnson
💍 1925/3411

Bachelor
Widow (1/1/1915)

Shipwright

45
39

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
12 years

Registrar's Office

2816

2 June 1925

Registrar

No	537
Date of Notice	2 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Abernethy	Margaret Johnson
	💍 1925/3411
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (1/1/1915)
Profession	Shipwright
Age	45	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2816
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

538

2 June 1925

William Symington Brown
Vida Thomson Bradshaw

William Symington Brown
Vida Thomson Bradshaw
💍 1925/3412

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 29 May 1925

Civil Engineer

30
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
36 years

Residence of Mrs T. Stuart, 26 Hill Street

2817

2 June 1925

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	538
Date of Notice	2 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Symington Brown	Vida Thomson Bradshaw
	💍 1925/3412
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 29 May 1925
Profession	Civil Engineer
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs T. Stuart, 26 Hill Street
Folio	2817
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

539

4 June 1925

William David Hood
Phoebe Edin

William David Hood
Phoebe Edlin
💍 1925/3413

Divorced decree absolute 21/11/1924
Spinster

Woollen Mill Hand

36
29

Petone
Petone

22 years
Life

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

2818

2 June 1925

J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	539
Date of Notice	4 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Hood	Phoebe Edin
BDM Match (96%)	William David Hood	Phoebe Edlin
	💍 1925/3413
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 21/11/1924	Spinster
Profession	Woollen Mill Hand
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	22 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace
Folio	2818
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1925
Officiating Minister	J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

540

4 June 1925

Austin Joseph France
Mary Florence Murphy

Austin Mary Joseph France
Mary Florence Murphy
💍 1925/3414

Widower 18/4/1924
Spinster

Railway Guard

49
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street

2819

4 June 1925

S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	540
Date of Notice	4 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Austin Joseph France	Mary Florence Murphy
BDM Match (90%)	Austin Mary Joseph France	Mary Florence Murphy
	💍 1925/3414
Condition	Widower 18/4/1924	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard
Age	49	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street
Folio	2819
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1925
Officiating Minister	S. Mahony, 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).