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 1856

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 31 March 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

24 February 1925

Albert Pugh
Lucy Heayns

Albert Pugh
Lucy Heayns
💍 1925/1461

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

57
32

Turakina
Turakina

1 week
1 week

Mrs Link's Residence, Turakina

2110

24 February 1925

Jas. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	24 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Pugh	Lucy Heayns
	💍 1925/1461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	57	32
Dwelling Place	Turakina	Turakina
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Mrs Link's Residence, Turakina
Folio	2110
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Jas. Wilson, Presbyterian

24 February 1925

Peter Campbell
Kirohina Isabel Smart

Peter Campbell
Nicolina Isabel Smart
💍 1925/1462

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
32

Wanganui
Wanganui

32 years
32 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

2111

24 February 1925

Hugh Beggs, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	24 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Campbell	Kirohina Isabel Smart
BDM Match (93%)	Peter Campbell	Nicolina Isabel Smart
	💍 1925/1462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	32 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	2111
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Hugh Beggs, Presbyterian

26 February 1925

Herman Reverman
Bertha Longrove

Herman Neverman
Bertha Lovegrove
💍 1925/1463

Divorced 15/2/24
Divorced 5/12/21

Tailor & cutter
Housekeeper

63
53

Wanganui
Wanganui

39 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

2112

26 February 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	26 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Reverman	Bertha Longrove
BDM Match (90%)	Herman Neverman	Bertha Lovegrove
	💍 1925/1463
Condition	Divorced 15/2/24	Divorced 5/12/21
Profession	Tailor & cutter	Housekeeper
Age	63	53
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	39 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	2112
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

27 February 1925

John Gardner Calver
Venecie May Childs

John Gardner Calver
Venecie May Childs
💍 1925/1464

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Schoolteacher

26
20

Wanganui
Wanganui

26 years
5 years

St Laurence's Church of England, Wanganui

2113

Kenetta Helen Molan formerly Childs, Mother

27 February 1925

W. T. Weller, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	27 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gardner Calver	Venecie May Childs
	💍 1925/1464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Schoolteacher
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	26 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Laurence's Church of England, Wanganui
Folio	2113
Consent	Kenetta Helen Molan formerly Childs, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 February 1925
Officiating Minister	W. T. Weller, Church of England

2 March 1925

Resta Harold Eaton
Vera Cicilia Elliott

Resta Harold Eaton
Vera Cicilia Elliott
💍 1925/1465

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Home duties

28
20

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 months
10 months

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

2114

Arthur Cecil Elliott, Father

2 March 1925

E. A. Hylton, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Resta Harold Eaton	Vera Cicilia Elliott
	💍 1925/1465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Home duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	2114
Consent	Arthur Cecil Elliott, Father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	E. A. Hylton, Registrar

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).