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 1966

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. R. Lathrope

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

286

24 March 1925

James Roy Kernohan
Mary Beatrice Ryland

James Roy Kernohan
Mary Beatrice Ryland
💍 1925/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Private Hotel Keeper

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
5 years

St. James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

947

24 March 1925

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	286
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Roy Kernohan	Mary Beatrice Ryland
	💍 1925/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Private Hotel Keeper
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	5 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	947
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

287

24 March 1925

Clement Read
Isobel Clayton Gill

Clement Read
Isobel Clayton Gill
💍 1925/214

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer

25
25

Wellington
Lyttelton

6 months
25 years

St. John's Church, Wellington

948

24 March 1925

J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	287
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Read	Isobel Clayton Gill
	💍 1925/214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	6 months	25 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	948
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Gibb, Presbyterian

288

24 March 1925

Clifford Oswald Bell
Margaret Mary Mahar

Clifford Oswald Bell
Margaret Mary Mahar
💍 1925/1874

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

2573

24 March 1925

J. Segrief, Roman Catholic

No	288
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Oswald Bell	Margaret Mary Mahar
	💍 1925/1874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	2573
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Segrief, Roman Catholic

289

25 March 1925

Arthur William Gordon Moore
Clara Winifred Dunley

Arthur William Gordon Moore
Clara Winifred Tunley
💍 1925/215

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Lorry Driver

25
23

Johnsonville
Paraparaumu

Life
16 years

St. Michael's Church, Newlands

949

25 March 1925

C. H. Isaacson, Anglican

No	289
Date of Notice	25 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Gordon Moore	Clara Winifred Dunley
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur William Gordon Moore	Clara Winifred Tunley
	💍 1925/215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Lorry Driver
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Paraparaumu
Length of Residence	Life	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Newlands
Folio	949
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1925
Officiating Minister	C. H. Isaacson, Anglican

290

25 March 1925

Raymond Charles Geddis Weston
Annie Beatrice Chalmers

Raymond Charles Geddis Weston
Annie Beatrice Chalmers
💍 1925/223

Bachelor
Spinster

Newspaper Reporter

29
27

Wellington
Eastbourne

6 years
Life

Residence of Mrs. E. M. Kent, Eastbourne

950

25 March 1925

J. G. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	290
Date of Notice	25 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Charles Geddis Weston	Annie Beatrice Chalmers
	💍 1925/223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newspaper Reporter
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Eastbourne
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. E. M. Kent, Eastbourne
Folio	950
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. G. Smyth, Presbyterian

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).