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 1575

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 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

01 April 1919

Harold David Abbiss
Eva Hancox

Harold David Abbiss
Eva Hancox
💍 1919/3540

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

21
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

3523

01 April 1919

Rev F.W. Boys, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	01 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold David Abbiss	Eva Hancox
	💍 1919/3540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	3523
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F.W. Boys, Methodist

04 April 1919

Ralph Adolph Bray
Ida Knight

Ralph Adolph Bray
Ida Knight
💍 1919/3598

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
25 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

3524

04 April 1919

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	04 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Adolph Bray	Ida Knight
	💍 1919/3598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	3524
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 April 1919
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

09 April 1919

John Webb
Isabella Lovdy Biggs

John Webb
Isabella Lovdy Biggs
💍 1919/3609

Widower
Widow

Verger
Domestic

69
57

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

16 years
10 weeks

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

3525

09 April 1919

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	09 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Webb	Isabella Lovdy Biggs
	💍 1919/3609
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Verger	Domestic
Age	69	57
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	16 years	10 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	3525
Consent
Date of Certificate	09 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

11 April 1919

William Leo DeCleene
Mary McDonald

William Leo De Cleene
Mary McDonald
💍 1919/3615

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
18

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

17 years
8 years

Methodist Church Cuba Street, Palmerston North

3526

Henry McDonald, Father

11 April 1919

Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leo DeCleene	Mary McDonald
BDM Match (98%)	William Leo De Cleene	Mary McDonald
	💍 1919/3615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	17 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Cuba Street, Palmerston North
Folio	3526
Consent	Henry McDonald, Father
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

14 April 1919

Walter Edward Taylor
Sarah Highton

Walter Edward Taylor
Sarah Highton
💍 1919/3616

Widower
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic

42
48

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

3527

14 April 1919

Rev F.W. Boys, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Taylor	Sarah Highton
	💍 1919/3616
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic
Age	42	48
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	3527
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F.W. Boys, Methodist

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).