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 1589

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar V. R. Worth

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 July 1919

James John Hume
Jean Isabel Larsen

James John Hume
Jean Isabel Larsen
💍 1919/6492

Bachelor
Spinster

Poultry Farmer
Domestic

26
26

Kauwhata Palmerston North
Palmerston North

26 years
26 years

Baptist Church Church Street Palmerston North

5916

4 July 1919

Rev C. W. Duncumb, Baptist

No	97
Date of Notice	4 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Hume	Jean Isabel Larsen
	💍 1919/6492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Poultry Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Kauwhata Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Church Street Palmerston North
Folio	5916
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev C. W. Duncumb, Baptist

7 July 1919

Maurice Frank Aubrey Archer
Beatrice Elizabeth Pegden

Maurice Frank Aubrey Archer
Beatrice Elizabeth Pegden
💍 1919/6493

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Home duties

34
35

Wellington
Palmerston North

34 years
35 years

Residence of W. E. Pegden 200 Park Road Palmerston North

5917

7 July 1919

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Frank Aubrey Archer	Beatrice Elizabeth Pegden
	💍 1919/6493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Home duties
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	34 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. E. Pegden 200 Park Road Palmerston North
Folio	5917
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

8 July 1919

Robert Tait
Jessie Lancaster

Robert Tait
Jessie Lancaster
💍 1919/6501

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

26
25

Kairanga
Kairanga

16 years
14 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5918

8 July 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Tait	Jessie Lancaster
	💍 1919/6501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Kairanga	Kairanga
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5918
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

100

14 July 1919

Ambrose Hatfield
Elizabeth Borthwick

Ambrose Hatfield
Elizabeth Borthwick
💍 1919/6512

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

46
38

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

5919

14 July 1919

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	100
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ambrose Hatfield	Elizabeth Borthwick
	💍 1919/6512
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	46	38
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	5919
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

101

14 July 1919

John Morrison
Annie Clara Langley

John Morrison
Annie Clara Langley
💍 1919/6519

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 months

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5950

14 July 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	101
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morrison	Annie Clara Langley
	💍 1919/6519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5950
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

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).