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 2051

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar H. L. 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

691

20 July 1925

Frank William Davey
Florence Emma Smith

Frank William Davey
Florence Emma Smith
💍 1925/5888

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 17/7/1925

Farmer

28
33

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
4 weeks

Residence of bride's sister

5887

20 July 1925

F. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	691
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Davey	Florence Emma Smith
	💍 1925/5888
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 17/7/1925
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of bride's sister
Folio	5887
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1925
Officiating Minister	F. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

692

20 July 1925

Ernest James Tunnell
Muriel Kate MacLeod

Ernest James Tunnell
Muriel Kate MacLeod
💍 1925/5889

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
2 months

St. James Presbyterian Manse, Wellington South

5888

20 July 1925

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	692
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Tunnell	Muriel Kate MacLeod
	💍 1925/5889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Manse, Wellington South
Folio	5888
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

693

21 July 1925

Leslie Weedon Broughton
Violetta Alma Wrigley Lang

Leslie Weedon Broughton
Villetta Alma Wrigley Lang
💍 1925/5890

Widower 23/9/1923
Spinster

Salesman

42
29

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
1 year

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

5889

21 July 1925

J.K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	693
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Weedon Broughton	Violetta Alma Wrigley Lang
BDM Match (98%)	Leslie Weedon Broughton	Villetta Alma Wrigley Lang
	💍 1925/5890
Condition	Widower 23/9/1923	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J.K. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5889
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J.K. Elliott, Presbyterian

694

21 July 1925

Thomas Carlyle Rodger
Helen Emma Tompkins

Thomas Carlyle Rodger
Helen Emma Tompkins
💍 1925/5891

Widower 27/10/1924
Widow 29/10/1924

Shopman

44
46

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace

5890

21 July 1925

J. Baird, Presbyterian

No	694
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Carlyle Rodger	Helen Emma Tompkins
	💍 1925/5891
Condition	Widower 27/10/1924	Widow 29/10/1924
Profession	Shopman
Age	44	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace
Folio	5890
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Baird, Presbyterian

695

21 July 1925

Athol Wilmer Wood
Alice Ruby Baker

Athol Wilmer Wood
Alice Ruby Baker
💍 1925/5892

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

22
19

Wellington
Paremata

22 years
6 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

5891

William Baker, Father of bride

21 July 1925

P. Stanley, Anglican

No	695
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Athol Wilmer Wood	Alice Ruby Baker
	💍 1925/5892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Paremata
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	5891
Consent	William Baker, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	P. Stanley, Anglican

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).