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 1838

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar M. Vernon

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

9 April 1925

Andrew Miller
Annie Isabel Swenson

Andrew Miller
Annie Isobel Swensen
💍 1925/4872

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Domestic Duties

28
24

Taihape
Taihape

4 years
24 years

St. Davids Presbyterian Church, Taihape

4729

9 April 1925

Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Miller	Annie Isabel Swenson
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Miller	Annie Isobel Swensen
	💍 1925/4872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Davids Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	4729
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

15 April 1925

Lionel Cummings
Mary Kathleen Miles

Lionel Cummings
Mercy Kathleen Miles
💍 1925/4873

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

25
21

Mowahango, Taihape
Mowahango, Taihape

8 years
19 years

Anglican Church, Taihape

4730

15 April 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	15 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Cummings	Mary Kathleen Miles
BDM Match (95%)	Lionel Cummings	Mercy Kathleen Miles
	💍 1925/4873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Mowahango, Taihape	Mowahango, Taihape
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taihape
Folio	4730
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

20 April 1925

John Laurie
Doris Mary Hunt Grossman

John Laurie
Doris Mary Hunt Grossmar
💍 1925/4874

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

28
22

Auckland
Taihape

8 months
1 month

Anglican Church, Taihape

4731

20 April 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	20 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Laurie	Doris Mary Hunt Grossman
BDM Match (98%)	John Laurie	Doris Mary Hunt Grossmar
	💍 1925/4874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Taihape
Length of Residence	8 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taihape
Folio	4731
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

9 May 1925

William Albert Thorn
Lydia Mabel Alla Wapp

William Albert Thom
Lydia Mabel Ella Waff
💍 1925/4875

Bachelor
Spinster

New Zealand Railway Employee
School Teacher

26
21

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
1 month

Church of England, Taihape

4732

9 May 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	9 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Thorn	Lydia Mabel Alla Wapp
BDM Match (88%)	William Albert Thom	Lydia Mabel Ella Waff
	💍 1925/4875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	New Zealand Railway Employee	School Teacher
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taihape
Folio	4732
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

12 May 1925

Alexander Thomas Wilson
Edith Elizabeth Mary Harris

Alexander Thomas Wilson
Edith Elizabeth Mary Harris
💍 1925/4852

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

22
18

Mokai, Taihape
Mokai

5 years
14 years

Church of England, Taihape

4733

Henry Harris, father

12 May 1925

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	12 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Thomas Wilson	Edith Elizabeth Mary Harris
	💍 1925/4852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Mokai, Taihape	Mokai
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taihape
Folio	4733
Consent	Henry Harris, father
Date of Certificate	12 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

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).