Intentions to Marry, 1919 Albertland to Helensville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840481, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919a contains pages 1-500, covering districts from Albertland to Helensville

Page 379

District of Cambridge Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar R. Martin

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 January 1919

John Marsland Hill Griffin
Martha May Miles

John Marsland Hill Griffin
Martha May Miles
💍 1919/982

Widower
Widow

Cabinetmaker
Confectioner

44
36

Cambridge
Cambridge

14 days
2 years

Residence of W. G. Simons Victoria Street Cambridge

884

10 January 1919

A. B. Carmichael, Salvation Army

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Marsland Hill Griffin	Martha May Miles
	💍 1919/982
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Confectioner
Age	44	36
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	14 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. G. Simons Victoria Street Cambridge
Folio	884
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	A. B. Carmichael, Salvation Army

11 January 1919

Henry Stephenson Paton
Bessie Cullen

Henry Stephenson Paton
Bessie Cullen
💍 1919/983

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic

24
28

Leamington
Leamington

8 months
4 years

Methodist Church Leamington

885

11 January 1919

T. Burton, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	11 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stephenson Paton	Bessie Cullen
	💍 1919/983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Leamington	Leamington
Length of Residence	8 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Leamington
Folio	885
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1919
Officiating Minister	T. Burton, Methodist

5 February 1919

Oliver James Strawbridge
Mary Ann Elizabeth Bell

Oliver James Strawbridge
Mary Ann Elizabeth Bell
💍 1919/984

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

36
37

Cambridge
Cambridge

19 years
18 years

Residence of Mr John Bell Leamington

886

5 February 1919

G. S. Cook, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	5 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver James Strawbridge	Mary Ann Elizabeth Bell
	💍 1919/984
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	19 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Bell Leamington
Folio	886
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1919
Officiating Minister	G. S. Cook, Methodist

17 February 1919

Thomas McMillan
Myrtle Hope Landmann

Thomas McMillan
Myrtle Hope Landmann
💍 1919/985

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

23
22

Cambridge
Cambridge

20 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church Cambridge

887

17 February 1919

J. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	17 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McMillan	Myrtle Hope Landmann
	💍 1919/985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Cambridge
Folio	887
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1919
Officiating Minister	J. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian

28 March 1919

Percy Gordon Mills
Mary Ashton Christie

Percy Gordon Mills
Mary Ashton Christie
💍 1919/986

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
27

Cambridge
Cambridge

3 days
19 years

Presbyterian Church Cambridge

888

28 March 1919

J. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	28 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Gordon Mills	Mary Ashton Christie
	💍 1919/986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Cambridge
Folio	888
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1919
Officiating Minister	J. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).