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 1521

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. M. 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

3 July 1919

Herbert Stanley Adams
Helen MacGregor

Herbert Stanley Adams
Helen MacGregor
💍 1919/4930

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

37
24

Wellington
Masterton

3 months
Lifetime

Dwellinghouse of Mrs E. McGregor, Pownall Street, Masterton

4162

3 July 1919

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	3 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Stanley Adams	Helen MacGregor
	💍 1919/4930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 months	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs E. McGregor, Pownall Street, Masterton
Folio	4162
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

11 July 1919

William Elliott Currie
Jamesina Reid

William Elliott Currie
Jamesina Reid
💍 1919/6442

Bachelor
Spinster

Member of New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Jeweller's Assistant

28
20

Featherston Camp
Masterton

5 months

Knox Church at Masterton

5895

Alice Maud Coley

11 July 1919

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Elliott Currie	Jamesina Reid
	💍 1919/6442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Member of New Zealand Expeditionary Force	Jeweller's Assistant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Featherston Camp	Masterton
Length of Residence		5 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	5895
Consent	Alice Maud Coley
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

14 July 1919

William George Perry
Euphemia Gertrude Ruthland Cadzow

William George Perry
Euphemia Gertrude Rutland Cadgon
💍 1919/4376

Bachelor
Spinster

Importer
Home Duties

32
26

Masterton
Dannevirke

6 months

Church of England at Dannevirke

5700

14 July 1919

Rev. B. G. Stephenson, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Perry	Euphemia Gertrude Ruthland Cadzow
BDM Match (95%)	William George Perry	Euphemia Gertrude Rutland Cadgon
	💍 1919/4376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Importer	Home Duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England at Dannevirke
Folio	5700
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. G. Stephenson, Church of England

14 July 1919

Alfred Smith
May Smith

Alfred Smith
Mary Smith
💍 1919/6443

Divorced (Decree absolute 10-7-19)
Widow (12/11/1911)

Gardener
Home Duties

48
48

Masterton
Masterton

4 months
Lifetime

Registrar's Office at Masterton

5896

14 July 1919

J. M. Miller Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Smith	May Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Smith	Mary Smith
	💍 1919/6443
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 10-7-19)	Widow (12/11/1911)
Profession	Gardener	Home Duties
Age	48	48
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 months	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Masterton
Folio	5896
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. M. Miller Registrar

14 July 1919

Edwin Wilson de Lisle
Coral Minnie Flett

Edwin Wilson de Lisle
Coral Minnie Flett
💍 1919/6444

Bachelor
Widow (5-5-16)

Member of New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Home Duties

26
26

Masterton
Masterton

6 months
Lifetime

Lansdowne Presbyterian Church

5897

14 July 1919

Rev. J. Halliday, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Wilson de Lisle	Coral Minnie Flett
	💍 1919/6444
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (5-5-16)
Profession	Member of New Zealand Expeditionary Force	Home Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 months	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Lansdowne Presbyterian Church
Folio	5897
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Halliday, 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).