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 471

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar A. Stott

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

30 May 1919

George Robins Lawry
Sarah Jane Davies

George Robins Lawry
Sarah Jane Davies
💍 1919/3030

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
29

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
10 years

Methodist Church, Hamilton.

2913

30 May 1919

E. O. Blamires, Methodist

No	44
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robins Lawry	Sarah Jane Davies
	💍 1919/3030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hamilton.
Folio	2913
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	E. O. Blamires, Methodist

31 May 1919

Francis Walter Letts
Hilda Malvina Weber

Francis Walter Letts
Hilda Malvina Weber
💍 1919/3031

Widower
Spinster

Artesian Well Borer.
Retoucher

57
41

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

2914

31 May 1919

A. Stott, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Letts	Hilda Malvina Weber
	💍 1919/3031
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Artesian Well Borer.	Retoucher
Age	57	41
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	2914
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	A. Stott, Registrar

31 May 1919

Albert William Walker
Olive Evelyne Wilson

Albert William Walker
Olive Evelyn Wilson
💍 1919/3032

Widower
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

36
25

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 years
2 years

Presbyterian Manse, Hamilton

2915

31 May 1919

J. T. Burrows, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Walker	Olive Evelyne Wilson
BDM Match (98%)	Albert William Walker	Olive Evelyn Wilson
	💍 1919/3032
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hamilton
Folio	2915
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	J. T. Burrows, Presbyterian

2 June 1919

Walter Aubray Chitty
Mary Magdaline Eaton

Walter Aubrey Chitty
Mary Magdalene Meyer Eaton
💍 1919/3170

Widower
Divorced

Manufacturer
Nurse

37
41

Hamilton
Hamilton

37 years
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton.

2961

2 June 1919

J. C. Darby, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Aubray Chitty	Mary Magdaline Eaton
BDM Match (84%)	Walter Aubrey Chitty	Mary Magdalene Meyer Eaton
	💍 1919/3170
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Manufacturer	Nurse
Age	37	41
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	37 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton.
Folio	2961
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	J. C. Darby, Roman Catholic

5 June 1919

William James Thomson
Mary Margaret Martin

William James Thomson
Mary Margaret Martin
💍 1919/3033

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
20

Gordonton
Gordonton

5 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Gordonton.

2916

Selina Martin, Mother

5 June 1919

R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	5 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Thomson	Mary Margaret Martin
	💍 1919/3033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Gordonton	Gordonton
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gordonton.
Folio	2916
Consent	Selina Martin, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Mackie, 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).