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 132

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar J. W. P. M.

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

606

4 June 1919

Richard Slaydon Paulsen
Margherita Simmonds

Richard Blagdon Gamlen
Marguerita Simmonds
💍 1919/4942

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

42
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 days

St Marys Cathedral, Parnell

4173

4 June 1919

Rev. J. R. Burgin, Anglican

No	606
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Slaydon Paulsen	Margherita Simmonds
BDM Match (87%)	Richard Blagdon Gamlen	Marguerita Simmonds
	💍 1919/4942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	42	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St Marys Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	4173
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin, Anglican

607

4 June 1919

Jonathan Ball
Esther Florence Richmond

Jonathan Ball
Esther Florence Richmond
💍 1919/2839

Divorced 15 September 1914
Spinster

Architect

44
44

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Onehunga

2520

4 June 1919

Rev. D. D. Scott, Presbyterian

No	607
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Ball	Esther Florence Richmond
	💍 1919/2839
Condition	Divorced 15 September 1914	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	44	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Onehunga
Folio	2520
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Scott, Presbyterian

608

4 June 1919

George Ernest Thorburn
Eliza Paulsen

George Ernest Thorburn
Eliza Paulsen
💍 1919/2840

Divorced 4 June 1919
Widow 15 August 1917

Contractor

34
34

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

2521

4 June 1919

Registrar

No	608
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Thorburn	Eliza Paulsen
	💍 1919/2840
Condition	Divorced 4 June 1919	Widow 15 August 1917
Profession	Contractor
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	2521
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

609

4 June 1919

Norman Theodore Dodd
Florence Louisa Draper

Norman Theodore Todd
Florence Louisa Granger
💍 1919/2841

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

38
39

Auckland
Auckland

38 years
39 years

St Matthews Church

2522

4 June 1919

Rev. H. Mason, Anglican

No	609
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Theodore Dodd	Florence Louisa Draper
BDM Match (91%)	Norman Theodore Todd	Florence Louisa Granger
	💍 1919/2841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	38 years	39 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church
Folio	2522
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mason, Anglican

610

4 June 1919

Edgar Wilfred Cuthbert Humphries
Eileen Bridges

Edgar Godfrey Cuthbert Humphries
Eileen Bridges
💍 1919/2842

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
20

Auckland
Auckland

1 day
2 1/2 months

St Benedicts Church, Auckland

2523

William Ernest Bridges, Father

4 June 1919

Rev. Father Hillan, Roman Catholic

No	610
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Wilfred Cuthbert Humphries	Eileen Bridges
BDM Match (94%)	Edgar Godfrey Cuthbert Humphries	Eileen Bridges
	💍 1919/2842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 day	2 1/2 months
Marriage Place	St Benedicts Church, Auckland
Folio	2523
Consent	William Ernest Bridges, Father
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hillan, 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).

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).