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 1863

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar M. J. 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

10 July 1926

Norman Thompson
Alice Bull

Norman Thompson
Alice Cull
💍 1926/6931

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

24
22

Taihape
Taihape

4 months
2 months

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

7481

10 July 1926

Rev. E. Bandy, Presbyterian, Taihape

No	17
Date of Notice	10 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Thompson	Alice Bull
BDM Match (95%)	Norman Thompson	Alice Cull
	💍 1926/6931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	7481
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bandy, Presbyterian, Taihape

12 July 1926

Jeffrey Jones
Jane Anne Smith

Jeffrey James
Jane Anne Smith
💍 1926/6932

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
44

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
20 years

Church of England, Taihape

7482

12 July 1926

Rev. Eric J. Rich, Anglican, Taihape

No	18
Date of Notice	12 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeffrey Jones	Jane Anne Smith
BDM Match (92%)	Jeffrey James	Jane Anne Smith
	💍 1926/6932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	44
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taihape
Folio	7482
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Eric J. Rich, Anglican, Taihape

12 July 1926

William Howard Edge
Fanny Myrtle Isabel Green

William Howard Edge
Fanny Myrtle Isabel Green
💍 1926/6933

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Waitress

24
23

Taihape
Taihape

8 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

7483

12 July 1926

Rev. E. Bandy, Presbyterian, Taihape

No	19
Date of Notice	12 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Howard Edge	Fanny Myrtle Isabel Green
	💍 1926/6933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Waitress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	7483
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bandy, Presbyterian, Taihape

24 July 1926

Francis Charles Bench
Hilda Pearle Hebberd

Francis Charles Beuck
Rita Pearl Hebberd
💍 1926/6934

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
21

Utiku
Utiku

6 years
19 years

Holy Trinity Church, Utiku

7484

24 July 1926

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican, Taihape

No	20
Date of Notice	24 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Charles Bench	Hilda Pearle Hebberd
BDM Match (85%)	Francis Charles Beuck	Rita Pearl Hebberd
	💍 1926/6934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Utiku	Utiku
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Utiku
Folio	7484
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican, Taihape

12 August 1926

Alfred Matthew Hughes
Norah Elizabeth Dance

Alfred Matthew Hughes
Norah Elizabeth Dance
💍 1926/6912

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

20
16

Mataroa
Mataroa

6 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Taihape

7485

Ernest Bay Hughes (Father), Bessie Dance (Mother)

12 August 1926

M. J. Vernon, Registrar, Taihape

No	21
Date of Notice	12 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Matthew Hughes	Norah Elizabeth Dance
	💍 1926/6912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Mataroa	Mataroa
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taihape
Folio	7485
Consent	Ernest Bay Hughes (Father), Bessie Dance (Mother)
Date of Certificate	12 August 1926
Officiating Minister	M. J. Vernon, Registrar, Taihape

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).