Intentions to Marry, 1926 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840540, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926e contains pages 1807-2222, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1821

District of Raetihi Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar A. W. Ashwell

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

4 October 1926

Parris Ashton Wright
Gwendoline Agnes Sigley

Parris Ashton Wright
Gwendoline Agnes Sigley
💍 1926/8855

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
22

Raetihi
Raetihi

9 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Raetihi

10125

4 October 1926

Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	4 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Parris Ashton Wright	Gwendoline Agnes Sigley
	💍 1926/8855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	9 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Raetihi
Folio	10125
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

9 October 1926

Albert Henry Rean
Dulcie Eileen Carmichael

Albert Henry Rean
Dulcie Eileen Carmichael
💍 1926/8856

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway fireman
Domestic duties

22
19

Ohakune Junction
Raetihi

18 years
10 years

Dwelling of Mr. D. Carmichael, Raetihi

10126

David Carmichael, father

9 October 1926

Rev. J. J. Heard, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	9 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Rean	Dulcie Eileen Carmichael
	💍 1926/8856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway fireman	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ohakune Junction	Raetihi
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. D. Carmichael, Raetihi
Folio	10126
Consent	David Carmichael, father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Heard, Presbyterian

6 November 1926

John Henry Garmonsway
Florence Mary Allan

John Henry Garmonsway
Florence Mary Allan
💍 1926/8864

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand
Domestic duties

24
23

Raetihi
Raetihi

7 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Raetihi

10127

6 November 1926

A. W. Ashwell

No	22
Date of Notice	6 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Garmonsway	Florence Mary Allan
	💍 1926/8864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Raetihi
Folio	10127
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1926
Officiating Minister	A. W. Ashwell

13 November 1926

Ernest Peck
Florence Mabel Bolland

Ernest Peck
Florence Mabel Ballond
💍 1926/8875

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
18

Raetihi
Raetihi

3 years
7 years

Salvation Army Hall, Raetihi

10128

Joseph Bolland, father

13 November 1926

Captain S. Smith, Salvation Army

No	23
Date of Notice	13 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Peck	Florence Mabel Bolland
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Peck	Florence Mabel Ballond
	💍 1926/8875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Raetihi
Folio	10128
Consent	Joseph Bolland, father
Date of Certificate	13 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Captain S. Smith, Salvation Army

18 December 1926

Henry Victor Pedersen
Eileen Isabel Barakat

Henry Victor Pedersen
Eileen Isabel Baraket
💍 1926/8882

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic duties

24
19

Karioi
Raetihi

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Raetihi

10129

Simon Barakat, father

18 December 1926

Rev. Father Broughton, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	18 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Victor Pedersen	Eileen Isabel Barakat
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Victor Pedersen	Eileen Isabel Baraket
	💍 1926/8882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Karioi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Raetihi
Folio	10129
Consent	Simon Barakat, father
Date of Certificate	18 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Broughton, Roman Catholic

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).