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 1569

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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 February 1919

Victor Clarence Watson
May Emma Astle

Victor Clarence Watson
May Emma Astle
💍 1919/1522

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Tailoress

25
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
21 years

Cuba Street Methodist Church Palmerston North

1274

4 February 1919

Rev A. Ashcroft Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Clarence Watson	May Emma Astle
	💍 1919/1522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Tailoress
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	1274
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Ashcroft Methodist

6 February 1919

Russell Williams Wemyss
Mary Ann McKellar

Russell Williams Wemyss
Mary Ann McKellar
💍 1919/1523

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

23
32

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
4 days

Residence of R. McKenzie 26 Waldegrave Street Palmerston North

1275

6 February 1919

Rev A. Ashcroft Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	6 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Russell Williams Wemyss	Mary Ann McKellar
	💍 1919/1523
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	32
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of R. McKenzie 26 Waldegrave Street Palmerston North
Folio	1275
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Ashcroft Methodist

14 February 1919

William James Gore
Ida Dorothy Edwards

William James Gore
Ida Dorothy Edwards
💍 1919/1531

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

24 years
7 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Broad Street Palmerston North

1276

Arthur William Edwards, Father

14 February 1919

Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	14 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Gore	Ida Dorothy Edwards
	💍 1919/1531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	24 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Broad Street Palmerston North
Folio	1276
Consent	Arthur William Edwards, Father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

18 February 1919

Ernest Edwin Francis Lewer
Noeline Amy Keeling

Ernest Edwin Francis Lewer
Noeline Amy Keeling
💍 1919/1542

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
21 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

1277

18 February 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	18 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edwin Francis Lewer	Noeline Amy Keeling
	💍 1919/1542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	1277
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

19 February 1919

William White
Pearl Toomer

William White
Pearl Toomer
💍 1919/1548

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
4 years

Salvation Army Barracks Palmerston North

1278

James John Toomer, Father

19 February 1919

Brigadier J. J. Toomer Salvation Army

No	15
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William White	Pearl Toomer
	💍 1919/1548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks Palmerston North
Folio	1278
Consent	James John Toomer, Father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Brigadier J. J. Toomer Salvation Army

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).