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 104

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

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

466

1 May 1919

Otto Henry Roberstein
Dora Heida Emma Kamps

Otto Henry Roberstein
Dora Freda Emma Kamps
💍 1919/2573

Bachelor
Divorced 30 November 1914

Contractor

27
32

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church Mt. Eden Auckland

2383

1 May 1919

Rev. Jas. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	466
Date of Notice	1 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Otto Henry Roberstein	Dora Heida Emma Kamps
BDM Match (93%)	Otto Henry Roberstein	Dora Freda Emma Kamps
	💍 1919/2573
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 30 November 1914
Profession	Contractor
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mt. Eden Auckland
Folio	2383
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Shaw, Presbyterian

467

1 May 1919

Albert Henry Austin
Maggie McDougall

Albert Henry Austin
Maggie McDougall
💍 1919/2574

Bachelor
Widow 20 April 1917

Tailor

49
52

Auckland
Auckland

7 days
19 months

St Matthews Church Auckland

2384

1 May 1919

Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Anglican

No	467
Date of Notice	1 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Austin	Maggie McDougall
	💍 1919/2574
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20 April 1917
Profession	Tailor
Age	49	52
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 days	19 months
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	2384
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Anglican

468

2 May 1919

Sydney Smith
Eveline Riley

Sydney Smith
Eveline Riley
💍 1919/2575

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber worker

21
19

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
1 year

House of Sister of Bridegroom 16 Lincoln St Ponsonby Auckland

2385

Alice Mitchell Riley, Mother of Bride

2 May 1919

Rev. W. H. Speer, Methodist

No	468
Date of Notice	2 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Smith	Eveline Riley
	💍 1919/2575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber worker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Sister of Bridegroom 16 Lincoln St Ponsonby Auckland
Folio	2385
Consent	Alice Mitchell Riley, Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	2 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer, Methodist

469

2 May 1919

James Robert Sutherland
Gladys Caroline Small

James Robert Sutherland
Gladys Caroline Small
💍 1919/2576

Bachelor
Widow 31 August 1918

Seaman

35
21

Auckland
Auckland

20 months
12 months

St James Manse Auckland

2386

2 May 1919

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	469
Date of Notice	2 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Sutherland	Gladys Caroline Small
	💍 1919/2576
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 31 August 1918
Profession	Seaman
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St James Manse Auckland
Folio	2386
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

470

2 May 1919

Clarence Wavell Cowdery
Gladys Marion Hodgson

Clarence Wavell Cowdery
Gladys Marion Hodgson
💍 1919/2554

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
6 years

Methodist Church Clonbern Rd Remuera Auckland

2387

2 May 1919

Rev. W. S. Potter, Methodist

No	470
Date of Notice	2 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Wavell Cowdery	Gladys Marion Hodgson
	💍 1919/2554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Clonbern Rd Remuera Auckland
Folio	2387
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Methodist

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).