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 1553

District of Otaki Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. W. Hodgson

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

1 July 1919

Alfred George Duke
Helen Mahalia Lund

Alfred George Tuke
Helen Mahalia Lund
💍 1919/6494

Bachelor
Widow 21-2-12

Farmer
Confectioner

56
44

Otaki
Otaki

20 days
2 years

Residence of Bride, Main Street, Otaki

5926

1 July 1919

W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Duke	Helen Mahalia Lund
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred George Tuke	Helen Mahalia Lund
	💍 1919/6494
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 21-2-12
Profession	Farmer	Confectioner
Age	56	44
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	20 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, Main Street, Otaki
Folio	5926
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	W. G. Slade, Methodist

7 July 1919

George Ferguson
Madeline Jeffares

George Ferguson
Madeline Jeffares
💍 1919/6495

Widower 4/3/13
Spinster

Farm manager
Domestic

39
22

Otaki
Otaki

6 days
4 months

Residence of Mrs Jeffares, Otaki Railway

5927

7 July 1919

J. Maillard, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ferguson	Madeline Jeffares
	💍 1919/6495
Condition	Widower 4/3/13	Spinster
Profession	Farm manager	Domestic
Age	39	22
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	6 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jeffares, Otaki Railway
Folio	5927
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. Maillard, Roman Catholic

21 July 1919

James William Areus
Amokura Kiriona

James William Areus
Amokwra Tuhera Kiriona
💍 1919/6496

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

36
32

Otaki
Otaki

3 days
30 years

Native Church, Otaki

5928

21 July 1919

Temuera Tokotua

No	13
Date of Notice	21 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Areus	Amokura Kiriona
BDM Match (84%)	James William Areus	Amokwra Tuhera Kiriona
	💍 1919/6496
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Native Church, Otaki
Folio	5928
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Temuera Tokotua

11 August 1919

Henare Wirihana Rei
Ngahuia Hawea

Hanare Irihana Rei
Ngahuia Hawea
💍 1919/6497

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
21

Otaki
Otaki

23 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Otaki

5929

11 August 1919

J. W. Hodgson, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	11 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henare Wirihana Rei	Ngahuia Hawea
BDM Match (92%)	Hanare Irihana Rei	Ngahuia Hawea
	💍 1919/6497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Otaki
Folio	5929
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1919
Officiating Minister	J. W. Hodgson, Registrar

26 August 1919

William Sefton Patten
Mary Stott Bennet

William Sefton Patton
Mary Stott Rennott
💍 1919/6498

Bachelor
Divorcee 3 May 1919

Farmer
Domestic

29
28

Tehoro
Tehoro

29 years
28 years

Registrar's Office, Otaki

5930

26 August 1919

J. W. Hodgson, Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	26 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sefton Patten	Mary Stott Bennet
BDM Match (89%)	William Sefton Patton	Mary Stott Rennott
	💍 1919/6498
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee 3 May 1919
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Tehoro	Tehoro
Length of Residence	29 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Otaki
Folio	5930
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1919
Officiating Minister	J. W. Hodgson, Registrar

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).