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 1868

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar E. A. Hylton

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

18 May 1925

Leonard Arthur William Goldsack
Eileen Dorothy Flynn

Leonard Arthur William Goldsack
Eileen Dorothy Flynn
💍 1925/4939

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Waitress

21
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

15 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Campbell Street, Wanganui

4769

18 May 1925

Geo. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	92
Date of Notice	18 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur William Goldsack	Eileen Dorothy Flynn
	💍 1925/4939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Waitress
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	15 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Campbell Street, Wanganui
Folio	4769
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Geo. Mahony, Roman Catholic

19 May 1925

George William Smith-Hubert
Doris Evelyn Brown

George William Smith-Hubert
Doris Evelyn Brown
💍 1925/4940

Divorced (decree absolute 7/5/25)
Spinster

Brickmaker
Home duties

32
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

4770

19 May 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	93
Date of Notice	19 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Smith-Hubert	Doris Evelyn Brown
	💍 1925/4940
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 7/5/25)	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Home duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	4770
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

21 May 1925

Arthur Joseph Smith
Alice Muriel Hooper

Arthur Joseph Smith
Alice Muriel Hooper
💍 1925/4941

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Home duties

22
21

Levin
Levin

21 years
21 years

Church of England, Levin

4771

21 May 1925

J. C. Davies, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	21 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Joseph Smith	Alice Muriel Hooper
	💍 1925/4941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Home duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Levin
Folio	4771
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1925
Officiating Minister	J. C. Davies, Church of England

23 May 1925

Alfred George Donaldson
Elizabeth Grace Walker

Alfred George Donaldson
Elizabeth Grace Walker
💍 1925/4942

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 9/10/23)

Carpenter
Tailoress

36
30

Wanganui
Wanganui

13 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

4772

23 May 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	23 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Donaldson	Elizabeth Grace Walker
	💍 1925/4942
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 9/10/23)
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	13 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	4772
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

26 May 1925

Percy Frederick Reynolds
Eva McDonald Patrick

Percy Frederick Reynolds
Eva McDonald Patrick
💍 1925/4943

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Shop Assistant

26
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

12 years
4 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

4773

26 May 1925

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	26 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Frederick Reynolds	Eva McDonald Patrick
	💍 1925/4943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Shop Assistant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	4773
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, 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).