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 1559

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 June 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

7 April 1919

Walter Linton
Ethel Mary Reid

Walter Linton
Ethel Mary Reid
💍 1919/3529

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
Domestic Duties

26
21

Mangamaire
Mangamaire

20 months
21 years

Residence of Mr Peter Reid Mangamaire

3513

7 April 1919

Rev R. Welsh

No	6
Date of Notice	7 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Linton	Ethel Mary Reid
	💍 1919/3529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Mangamaire	Mangamaire
Length of Residence	20 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Peter Reid Mangamaire
Folio	3513
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Welsh

9 April 1919

Frederick Wayland Gearley
Irma Olive Playle

Frederick Wayland Early
Vena Olive Playle
💍 1919/3530

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
23

Pahiatua
Ruawhata

3 days
3 months

Church of England Pahiatua

3514

9 April 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan

No	7
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Wayland Gearley	Irma Olive Playle
BDM Match (85%)	Frederick Wayland Early	Vena Olive Playle
	💍 1919/3530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Ruawhata
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Pahiatua
Folio	3514
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan

14 April 1919

Sidney Thomas Simey
Gladys Mary Taylor

Sidney Thomas Tinney
Gladys Mary Taylor
💍 1919/3531

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Bank Clerk

31
25

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 years
10 years

St Peters Anglican Church Pahiatua

3515

14 April 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan

No	8
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Thomas Simey	Gladys Mary Taylor
BDM Match (93%)	Sidney Thomas Tinney	Gladys Mary Taylor
	💍 1919/3531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Bank Clerk
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Anglican Church Pahiatua
Folio	3515
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan

15 April 1919

Isaac Samuel Thomas
May Stewart

Isaac Samuel Thomas
May Stewart
💍 1919/3532

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

57
23

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Pahiatua

3516

15 April 1919

D. O'Rourke Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Samuel Thomas	May Stewart
	💍 1919/3532
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	57	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Pahiatua
Folio	3516
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	D. O'Rourke Registrar

15 April 1919

Arthur George Lebeau
Gladys Emily Helene Cox

Arthur George Libeau
Gladys Emily Helene Cox
💍 1919/3533

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
18

Kaitawa
Hinemoa

3 days
13 years

Presbyterian Church Pahiatua

3517

Annie Cox Mother

15 April 1919

Rev R. Welsh

No	10
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Lebeau	Gladys Emily Helene Cox
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur George Libeau	Gladys Emily Helene Cox
	💍 1919/3533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Kaitawa	Hinemoa
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Pahiatua
Folio	3517
Consent	Annie Cox Mother
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Welsh

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).