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 2142

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar J. H. Penhorpe

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

1142

24 November 1925

Leslie Gordon Hedgman
Delecia Sergent Shadbolt

Leslie Gordon Hedgman
Delecia Sergent Shadbolt
💍 1925/8538

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

19
20

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

8577

Walter Sergent Shadbolt, Father of bride

24 November 1925

Registrar

No	1142
Date of Notice	24 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Gordon Hedgman	Delecia Sergent Shadbolt
	💍 1925/8538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	8577
Consent	Walter Sergent Shadbolt, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	24 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1143

25 November 1925

John James Firth
Bridget Hennessy

John James Firth
Bridget Hennessy
💍 1925/8545

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

57
26

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
5 years

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

8578

25 November 1925

N. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

No	1143
Date of Notice	25 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Firth	Bridget Hennessy
	💍 1925/8545
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	57	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	8578
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1925
Officiating Minister	N. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

1144

25 November 1925

Allen Percival William Fowler
Agnes Myrtle Roberts

Allen Percival William Fowler
Agnes Myrtle Roberts
💍 1925/10505

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

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

10468

25 November 1925

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	1144
Date of Notice	25 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Percival William Fowler	Agnes Myrtle Roberts
	💍 1925/10505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. Eaton, 38 McFarlane Street, Wellington
Folio	10468
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

1145

25 November 1925

Courtney Boon Parsons
Mona Rose Howe

Courtney Boon Parsons
Mona Rose Howe
💍 1926/356

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

20
22

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
6 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

Under section 27

25 November 1925

H. Watson, Anglican

No	1145
Date of Notice	25 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Courtney Boon Parsons	Mona Rose Howe
	💍 1926/356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	32
Consent	Under section 27
Date of Certificate	25 November 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Watson, Anglican

1146

25 November 1925

Richard Collins
Jessie Ellen Appleby

Richard Collins
Jessie Ellen Appleby
💍 1925/8546

Bachelor
Widow

Motor Mechanic

33
37

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
10 years

Congregational Church, The Terrace, Wellington

8579

25 November 1925

E. R. Weeks, Congregational

No	1146
Date of Notice	25 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Collins	Jessie Ellen Appleby
	💍 1925/8546
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	8579
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1925
Officiating Minister	E. R. Weeks, Congregational

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).