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 2076

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar J. H. Preesthorpe

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

816

28 August 1925

Leonard Henry Sanders
Eileen Laura McInnes

Leonard Henry Sanders
Eileen Laura McInnes
💍 1925/6158

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

21
18

Kaitoke
Lower Hutt

17 years
2 years

St. James Church, Lower Hutt

6009

Laura Margaret McInnes, Mother of bride

28 August 1925

A. L. Hansell, Anglican

No	816
Date of Notice	28 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Henry Sanders	Eileen Laura McInnes
	💍 1925/6158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Kaitoke	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	17 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	6009
Consent	Laura Margaret McInnes, Mother of bride
Date of Certificate	28 August 1925
Officiating Minister	A. L. Hansell, Anglican

817

29 August 1925

Charles William Burgess
Marie Kathleen Locke

Charles William Burgess
Marie Kathleen Locke
💍 1925/6135

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer

29
24

Taita, Lower Hutt
Taita, Lower Hutt

6 years
3 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6010

29 August 1925

Registrar

No	817
Date of Notice	29 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Burgess	Marie Kathleen Locke
	💍 1925/6135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Taita, Lower Hutt	Taita, Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6010
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

818

31 August 1925

Ronald Wallace Fenton
Ora Kathleen White

Ronald Wallace Fenton
Ora Kathleen White
💍 1925/6136

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

6011

31 August 1925

J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	818
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Wallace Fenton	Ora Kathleen White
	💍 1925/6136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	6011
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	J. G. Chapman, Methodist

819

31 August 1925

George Albert Garry
Anne Jane Roxburgh

George Albert Garry
Anne Jane Roxburgh
💍 1925/6137

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician

39
40

Wellington
Oamaru

15 years
Life

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

6012

31 August 1925

H. E. K. Fry, Anglican

No	819
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Garry	Anne Jane Roxburgh
	💍 1925/6137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	39	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Oamaru
Length of Residence	15 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	6012
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	H. E. K. Fry, Anglican

820

31 August 1925

Stanley Albert John Inwood
Ethel May Carmichael

Stanley Albert John Inwood
Ethel May Carmichael
💍 1925/4148

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer

32
28

Petone
Palmerston North

6 months
7 days

Salvation Army Citadel, Palmerston North

6050

31 August 1925

A. B. Carmichael, Salvation Army

No	820
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Albert John Inwood	Ethel May Carmichael
	💍 1925/4148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	7 days
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Palmerston North
Folio	6050
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	A. B. Carmichael, Salvation Army

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).