Intentions to Marry, 1919 Martinborough to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840484, 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.

1919d contains pages 1503-2000, covering districts from Martinborough to Wellington

Page 1513

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar Miller

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

Thomas Charles Evans
Elsa Phyllis Heckler

Thomas Charles Evans
Elsa Phyllis Heckler
💍 1919/1461

Bachelor
Spinster

Member New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Domestic Duties

28
28

Mangamahoe
Mangamahoe

1 day
26 years

Church of England, Mangamahoe

1239

10 January 1919

Rev. Perry Coleman, Church of England Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Charles Evans	Elsa Phyllis Heckler
	💍 1919/1461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Member New Zealand Expeditionary Force	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Mangamahoe	Mangamahoe
Length of Residence	1 day	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mangamahoe
Folio	1239
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Perry Coleman, Church of England Minister

18 January 1919

Frederick Arthur Judd
Agnes Emily Dickens

Frederick Arthur Judd
Agnes Emily Dickens
💍 1919/1462

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
27

Masterton
Masterton

6 months
4 years

Residence of W. B. Dickens, Pownall Street, Masterton

1240

18 January 1919

Rev. James Alfred Hosking, Methodist Church

No	2
Date of Notice	18 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arthur Judd	Agnes Emily Dickens
	💍 1919/1462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. B. Dickens, Pownall Street, Masterton
Folio	1240
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Alfred Hosking, Methodist Church

20 January 1919

Howard Templer Poulton
Marjory Jean Arkell

Edward Templer Poulton
Marjory Jean Antill
💍 1919/1463

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
29

(P.) Masterton, (H.) Makuri
Longbush

4 days
2 months

St. Matthews Church, Masterton

1241

20 January 1919

Rev. John Walker, Church of England Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Templer Poulton	Marjory Jean Arkell
BDM Match (88%)	Edward Templer Poulton	Marjory Jean Antill
	💍 1919/1463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	29
Dwelling Place	(P.) Masterton, (H.) Makuri	Longbush
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Masterton
Folio	1241
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England Minister

21 January 1919

Lawrence Doyle
Ellen Lenora Casey

Lawrence Doyle
Ellen Lenora Casey
💍 1919/1464

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

42
29

Masterton
Masterton

4 months
3 years

St. Patricks Church, Masterton

1242

21 January 1919

Right Rev. Monsignor John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Doyle	Ellen Lenora Casey
	💍 1919/1464
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church, Masterton
Folio	1242
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

31 January 1919

James Douglas Barry Martin
Doris Amelia Hansen

James Douglas Barry Martin
Doris Amelia Standen
💍 1919/1465

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Civil Servant

24
22

Masterton
Masterton

1 year
1 year

Knox Church, Masterton

1243

31 January 1919

Rev. Robert Inglis, Presbyterian Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Douglas Barry Martin	Doris Amelia Hansen
BDM Match (93%)	James Douglas Barry Martin	Doris Amelia Standen
	💍 1919/1465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Civil Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	1243
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Inglis, Presbyterian Minister

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).