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 1557

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar D. O'Rourke

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 January 1919

Edward John Lewer
Ruby Patience Field

Edward John Lower
Ruby Patience Field
💍 1919/1530

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

32
18

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 weeks
9 years

Registrar's Office Pahiatua

1259

Mary Ann Field Mother

4 January 1919

D. O'Rourke Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Lewer	Ruby Patience Field
BDM Match (97%)	Edward John Lower	Ruby Patience Field
	💍 1919/1530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 weeks	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Pahiatua
Folio	1259
Consent	Mary Ann Field Mother
Date of Certificate	4 January 1919
Officiating Minister	D. O'Rourke Registrar

22 January 1919

Alfred Hosberg
Barbara Linton

Alfred Forsberg
Barbara Linton
💍 1919/1507

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

33
29

Eketahuna
Maungamaire

3 days
15 months

Presbyterian Church Eketahuna

1260

22 January 1919

Rev J. Halliday

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hosberg	Barbara Linton
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Forsberg	Barbara Linton
	💍 1919/1507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Eketahuna	Maungamaire
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Eketahuna
Folio	1260
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Halliday

4 March 1919

Sydney Claude Humphries
Pauline Anne De Kenzy Shekleton

Sydney Claude Humphries
Pauline Anne De Renzy Shekleton
💍 1919/1508

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
24

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
24 years

St Peters Church Pahiatua

1261

4 March 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan

No	3
Date of Notice	4 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Claude Humphries	Pauline Anne De Kenzy Shekleton
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Claude Humphries	Pauline Anne De Renzy Shekleton
	💍 1919/1508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Pahiatua
Folio	1261
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan

7 March 1919

Robert Alexander Thompson
Ada May Hathaway

Robert Alexander Thompson
Ada May Hathaway
💍 1919/1509

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
19

Kohinui
Pahiatua

22 years
19 years

St Peters Church Pahiatua

1262

Ben Hathaway Father

7 March 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan

No	4
Date of Notice	7 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Thompson	Ada May Hathaway
	💍 1919/1509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Kohinui	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Pahiatua
Folio	1262
Consent	Ben Hathaway Father
Date of Certificate	7 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan

24 March 1919

William Frank Groves
Lillian Ivylon Parsons

William Frank Groves
Lillian Ivyton Parsons
💍 1919/1510

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
23

Makuri
Kohinui

6 years
23 years

St Peters Church Pahiatua

1263

24 March 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frank Groves	Lillian Ivylon Parsons
BDM Match (98%)	William Frank Groves	Lillian Ivyton Parsons
	💍 1919/1510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Makuri	Kohinui
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Pahiatua
Folio	1263
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan

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).