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 2059

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar W. W. Malthouse

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

731

31 July 1925

Alexander Anthony Fraser
Eliza Moody Smith

Alexander Anthony Fraser
Eliza Moody Smith
💍 1925/5984

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington.

5926

31 July 1925

Registrar

No	731
Date of Notice	31 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Anthony Fraser	Eliza Moody Smith
	💍 1925/5984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington.
Folio	5926
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

732

31 July 1925

Robert Wallace
Jeannie Crosswell

Robert Wallace
Jeannie Crosswell
💍 1925/5995

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
18 months

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington.

5927

31 July 1925

J. Baird, Presbyterian

No	732
Date of Notice	31 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wallace	Jeannie Crosswell
	💍 1925/5995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington.
Folio	5927
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Baird, Presbyterian

733

31 July 1925

Robert Henry Towell
Edith Alice Jones

Robert Henry Towell
Edith Alice Jones
💍 1925/6002

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute, 23 February 1925

Warehouse Manager

45
40

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
10 years

Residence of Rev. C. Eaton, 38 McFarlane Street, Wellington.

5928

31 July 1925

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	733
Date of Notice	31 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Towell	Edith Alice Jones
	💍 1925/6002
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute, 23 February 1925
Profession	Warehouse Manager
Age	45	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. Eaton, 38 McFarlane Street, Wellington.
Folio	5928
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

734

1 August 1925

Ormond McMaster
Iris Spinley

Ormond McMaster
Iris Daphne Spinley
💍 1925/6003

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
21

Wellington
Auckland

8 days

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington.

5929

1 August 1925

P. Stanley, Anglican

No	734
Date of Notice	1 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ormond McMaster	Iris Spinley
BDM Match (82%)	Ormond McMaster	Iris Daphne Spinley
	💍 1925/6003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington.
Folio	5929
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1925
Officiating Minister	P. Stanley, Anglican

735

1 August 1925

Joseph Aloysius Duffy
Marion Brophy

Joseph Aloysius Duffy
Marion Brophy
💍 1925/6004

Divorced Decree Absolute 19 March 1921
Spinster

Physical Instructor

38
23

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
18 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5930

1 August 1925

Registrar

No	735
Date of Notice	1 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Aloysius Duffy	Marion Brophy
	💍 1925/6004
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 19 March 1921	Spinster
Profession	Physical Instructor
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5930
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).