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 1867

District of Taihape Quarter ending 31 December 1926 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

12 November 1926

Alexander Robert Debel
Rita Frances Suff

Alexander Robert Webster
Rita Frances Suff
💍 1926/8907

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Domestic Duties

26
29

Taihape
Taihape

2 years
1 year

Church of England

10154

12 November 1926

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	34
Date of Notice	12 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert Debel	Rita Frances Suff
BDM Match (92%)	Alexander Robert Webster	Rita Frances Suff
	💍 1926/8907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Domestic Duties
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	10154
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

13 November 1926

Edward James Murphy
Louisa Rubena Toppell

Edward James Murphy
Louisa Rubena Coppell
💍 1926/8908

Edward James Murphy
Josephine Inelda Clifford
💍 1926/9347

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk N.Z.R.
Domestic Duties

24
31

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church

10155

13 November 1926

Rev. Father M. B. Dorlaghty, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	13 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Murphy	Louisa Rubena Toppell
BDM Match (98%)	Edward James Murphy	Louisa Rubena Coppell
	💍 1926/8908
BDM Match (60%)	Edward James Murphy	Josephine Inelda Clifford
	💍 1926/9347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk N.Z.R.	Domestic Duties
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	10155
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father M. B. Dorlaghty, Roman Catholic

21 December 1926

Raymond Short
Margaret McNie Donaldson

Raymond Short
Margaret McNie Donaldson
💍 1926/8909

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Tailoress

24
20

Taihape
Taihape

4 days
16 years

Presbyterian Church

10156

William Harvey Donaldson, Father

21 December 1926

Rev. E. Bandy, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	21 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Short	Margaret McNie Donaldson
	💍 1926/8909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Tailoress
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	10156
Consent	William Harvey Donaldson, Father
Date of Certificate	21 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bandy, Presbyterian

22 December 1926

Patrick Francis Donovan
Madeline Winifred Daws

Patrick Francis Donovan
Madeleine Winifred Daws
💍 1926/8910

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Bookkeeper

26
26

Taihape
Taihape

26 years
9 years

Roman Catholic

10157

22 December 1926

Rev. Father M. B. Dorlaghty, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	22 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Francis Donovan	Madeline Winifred Daws
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Francis Donovan	Madeleine Winifred Daws
	💍 1926/8910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Bookkeeper
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	26 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio	10157
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father M. B. Dorlaghty, Roman Catholic

31 December 1926

Norman Bertram Bellringer
Phyllis Michenda Saunders

Norman Bertram Bellringer
Phyllis Richenda Saunders
💍 1927/190

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Accountant
Clerk

25
22

Taihape
Taihape

2 weeks
5 weeks

Church of England

10158

31 December 1926

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	38
Date of Notice	31 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Bertram Bellringer	Phyllis Michenda Saunders
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Bertram Bellringer	Phyllis Richenda Saunders
	💍 1927/190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	10158
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1926
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).