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 2077

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar H. R. Gilthorpe

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

821

31 August 1925

Alexander Garland Wilson
Helen Sorby McLaren

Alexander Garland Wilson
Helen Sorby McLaren
💍 1925/6138

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

Life
14 years

St. James' Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington.

6013

31 August 1925

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	821
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Garland Wilson	Helen Sorby McLaren
	💍 1925/6138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	14 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington.
Folio	6013
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

822

31 August 1925

Walter George Neild
Lydia Aleen Adonia Searle

Walter George Nield
Lydia Aleen Adonia Searle
💍 1925/6139

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

26
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
19 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington.

6014

On order of Justice Ostler, Wellington.

31 August 1925

Registrar

No	822
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Neild	Lydia Aleen Adonia Searle
BDM Match (95%)	Walter George Nield	Lydia Aleen Adonia Searle
	💍 1925/6139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington.
Folio	6014
Consent	On order of Justice Ostler, Wellington.
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

823

31 August 1925

Walter Leonard Maynard Hughes
Eileen Sarah Hare

Walter Leonard Playnard Hughes
Eileen Sarah Hare
💍 1925/6140

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Manager

28
30

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
10 years

Church of England, Khandallah.

6015

31 August 1925

R. G. Finch, Anglican

No	823
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Leonard Maynard Hughes	Eileen Sarah Hare
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Leonard Playnard Hughes	Eileen Sarah Hare
	💍 1925/6140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Manager
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Khandallah.
Folio	6015
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	R. G. Finch, Anglican

824

1 September 1925

Edward Francis Trustrum
Violet Rosina Barton

Edward Francis Trustrum
Violet Rosina Barton
💍 1925/6141

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

29
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
23 years

Methodist Church, Brooklyn.

6016

1 September 1925

C. R. Taylor, Methodist

No	824
Date of Notice	1 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Francis Trustrum	Violet Rosina Barton
	💍 1925/6141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Brooklyn.
Folio	6016
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1925
Officiating Minister	C. R. Taylor, Methodist

825

1 September 1925

Martin Duffy
Margaret McTavish

Martin Duffy
Margaret McGavish
💍 1925/6142

Widower 27 October 1923.
Spinster

Farmer

34
35

Wellington
Wellington

1 day
1 month

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

6017

1 September 1925

M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	825
Date of Notice	1 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Duffy	Margaret McTavish
BDM Match (97%)	Martin Duffy	Margaret McGavish
	💍 1925/6142
Condition	Widower 27 October 1923.	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 day	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mary of The Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington.
Folio	6017
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1925
Officiating Minister	M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).