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 1998

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar A. R. Thorpe

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

330

23 March 1926

William Quinn
Hedwig Johanna Krebs

William Quinn
Hedwig Johanna Krebs
💍 1926/2638

Widower
Spinster

Company Manager

54
47

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
16 years

St. Joseph's Church, Wellington

1050

23 March 1926

J. Butler, Roman Catholic

No	330
Date of Notice	23 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Quinn	Hedwig Johanna Krebs
	💍 1926/2638
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	54	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	1050
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. Butler, Roman Catholic

331

23 March 1926

George Pearce Davies
Margaret Dunsmore Donaldson

George Pearce Davies
Margaret Dunsmore Donaldson
💍 1926/2639

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

Life
18 months

Residence of Bridegroom's parents, 38 Rodrigo Road, Kilbirnie

1051

Jeanie McLaughlin, mother

23 March 1926

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	331
Date of Notice	23 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pearce Davies	Margaret Dunsmore Donaldson
	💍 1926/2639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom's parents, 38 Rodrigo Road, Kilbirnie
Folio	1051
Consent	Jeanie McLaughlin, mother
Date of Certificate	23 March 1926
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

332

23 March 1926

James William Arnold
Winifred Muriel Esquilant

James William Arnold
Winifred Muriel Esquilant
💍 1926/2640

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Inspector

21
24

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
2 days

St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington

1052

23 March 1926

Rev. S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	332
Date of Notice	23 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Arnold	Winifred Muriel Esquilant
	💍 1926/2640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Inspector
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	2 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington
Folio	1052
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

333

24 March 1926

Charles Henry Cole
Kathleen Hilda Clemens

Charles Henry Cole
Kathleen Hilda Clemens
💍 1926/2641

Bachelor
Spinster

Home Missionary

31
33

Christchurch
Wellington

7 years

Baptist Church, Vivian Street, Wellington

1053

24 March 1926

F. E. Harry, Baptist

No	333
Date of Notice	24 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Cole	Kathleen Hilda Clemens
	💍 1926/2641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Home Missionary
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence		7 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	1053
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1926
Officiating Minister	F. E. Harry, Baptist

334

24 March 1926

William Henry James Simpson
Evelyn May Reid

William Henry James Simpson
Evelyn May Reid
💍 1926/2642

Bachelor
Widow

Plumber

21
26

Petone
Petone

4 years
5 years

Sacred Heart Church, Petone

1054

24 March 1926

P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

No	334
Date of Notice	24 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry James Simpson	Evelyn May Reid
	💍 1926/2642
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Plumber
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Petone
Folio	1054
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1926
Officiating Minister	P. Quealy, 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).