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 1565

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 October 1919

Gerald William Dempsey
Elizabeth Connell

Gerald William Dempsey
Elizabeth Connell
💍 1919/9122

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Agent
Domestic Duties

26
22

Pahiatua
Konini

6 months
22 years

Presbyterian Church Pahiatua

8801

1 October 1919

Rev. R. Welsh

No	31
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald William Dempsey	Elizabeth Connell
	💍 1919/9122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Konini
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Pahiatua
Folio	8801
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Welsh

4 October 1919

George Godfrey Davis
Agnes Emily Dunbar

George Godfrey Davis
Agnes Emily Dunbar
💍 1919/9133

Bachelor
Widow

Cook
Domestic

32
25

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

2 weeks
1 month

Residence of Mrs Mary Wilkes Pahiatua

8802

4 October 1919

Rev. R. Welsh

No	32
Date of Notice	4 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Godfrey Davis	Agnes Emily Dunbar
	💍 1919/9133
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Wilkes Pahiatua
Folio	8802
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Welsh

6 October 1919

Alfred Ansin
Olive Annie Sowry

Wilfred Ansin
Olive Annie Lowry
💍 1919/9140

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

21
23

Nikau
Nikau

4 days
23 years

Methodist Church Makomako

8803

6 October 1919

Rev. A. J. L. Minifie

No	33
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ansin	Olive Annie Sowry
BDM Match (89%)	Wilfred Ansin	Olive Annie Lowry
	💍 1919/9140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Nikau	Nikau
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Makomako
Folio	8803
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. L. Minifie

13 October 1919

Maurice Coffey
Ellen Grace Foley

Maurice Coffey
Ellen Grace Foley
💍 1919/9141

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

19
20

Ballance
Ballance

10 days
10 days

Roman Catholic Church Pahiatua

8804

Matthew Coffey Father, Ellen Callanan Mother

13 October 1919

Rev. T. McKenna

No	34
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Coffey	Ellen Grace Foley
	💍 1919/9141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Ballance	Ballance
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Pahiatua
Folio	8804
Consent	Matthew Coffey Father, Ellen Callanan Mother
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McKenna

24 November 1919

Garnet Brother Sowry
Ada Marie Christiansen

Garnet Strother Sowry
Ada Marie Christiansen
💍 1919/9142

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
24

Mangaramarama
Pahiatua

6 years
24 years

Methodist Church Pahiatua

8805

24 November 1919

Rev. A. J. L. Minifie

No	35
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garnet Brother Sowry	Ada Marie Christiansen
BDM Match (95%)	Garnet Strother Sowry	Ada Marie Christiansen
	💍 1919/9142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Mangaramarama	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Pahiatua
Folio	8805
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. L. Minifie

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).