Intentions to Marry, 1919 Herekino to Wairewa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840482, 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.

1919b contains pages 501-1004, covering districts from Herekino to Wairewa

Page 683

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar C. J. Boyd

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

4 October 1919

Alfred Bernstein
Katherine Emma Walls

Alfred Bernstein
Katherine Emma Walls
💍 1919/8629

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic

36
20

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

2 months
8 years

Registrar's Office Morrinsville

8285

James Walls, Father

4 October 1919

C. J. Boyd, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	4 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Bernstein	Katherine Emma Walls
	💍 1919/8629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	2 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Morrinsville
Folio	8285
Consent	James Walls, Father
Date of Certificate	4 October 1919
Officiating Minister	C. J. Boyd, Registrar

30 October 1919

Walter John Alfred Coombidge
Matilda Harriet Peterson

Walter John Alfred Coombridge
Matilda Harriet Peterson
💍 1919/8630

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
22

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

2 months
1 year

Residence of Walter John Alfred Coombidge Morrinsville

8286

30 October 1919

Rev M. Richards, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	30 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Alfred Coombidge	Matilda Harriet Peterson
BDM Match (98%)	Walter John Alfred Coombridge	Matilda Harriet Peterson
	💍 1919/8630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	2 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter John Alfred Coombidge Morrinsville
Folio	8286
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev M. Richards, Presbyterian

11 November 1919

Ole Peter Mortensen
Ina Colbeck

Ole Peter Mortensen
Ina Colbeck
💍 1919/8631

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
19

Kiwitahi
Motumaoho

3 years
2 years

Church of England Morrinsville

8287

Frank Colbeck, Father

11 November 1919

Rev G. K. Moir, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ole Peter Mortensen	Ina Colbeck
	💍 1919/8631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Kiwitahi	Motumaoho
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Morrinsville
Folio	8287
Consent	Frank Colbeck, Father
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. K. Moir, Church of England

12 November 1919

Arthur Henry Pitt
Eveline Alice Phipson Walton

Arthur Henry Pitt
Evelyn Alice Philson Walton
💍 1919/8632

Widower 22.1.1913
Spinster

Veterinary Surgeon
Domestic

39
19

Morrinsville
Piako

5 months
3 months

Residence of W. A. P. Walton Piako

8288

A. P. Walton, Father

12 November 1919

Rev. H. Cottom, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Pitt	Eveline Alice Phipson Walton
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Henry Pitt	Evelyn Alice Philson Walton
	💍 1919/8632
Condition	Widower 22.1.1913	Spinster
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon	Domestic
Age	39	19
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Piako
Length of Residence	5 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. A. P. Walton Piako
Folio	8288
Consent	A. P. Walton, Father
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Cottom, Methodist

1 December 1919

John Worden
Elsie White

John Warden
Elsie White
💍 1919/8633

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgical appliance Maker
Domestic

40
33

Tahuna
Tahuna

5 days
16 days

Methodist Church Tahuna

8289

1 December 1919

Rev H Cottom, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Worden	Elsie White
BDM Match (95%)	John Warden	Elsie White
	💍 1919/8633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgical appliance Maker	Domestic
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Tahuna	Tahuna
Length of Residence	5 days	16 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Tahuna
Folio	8289
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Cottom, 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).