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 1591

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. Ashworth

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

107

22 July 1919

Bruce Smith
Grace McLeod

Bruce Smith
Grace McLeod
💍 1919/6524

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

30
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

5955

22 July 1919

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	107
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bruce Smith	Grace McLeod
	💍 1919/6524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	5955
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

108

22 July 1919

Alan Burton Reid
Laura Augusta Muriel May

Alan Burton Reid
Augusta Laura Muriel May
💍 1919/6525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 year

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5956

22 July 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	108
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Burton Reid	Laura Augusta Muriel May
BDM Match (79%)	Alan Burton Reid	Augusta Laura Muriel May
	💍 1919/6525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5956
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

109

28 July 1919

Robert Murphy
Margaret Davidson

Robert Murphy
Margaret Davison
💍 1919/6502

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

48
25

Taikorea
Palmerston North

11 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church Terrace End Palmerston North

5957

28 July 1919

Rev J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Murphy	Margaret Davidson
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Murphy	Margaret Davison
	💍 1919/6502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	48	25
Dwelling Place	Taikorea	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	11 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Terrace End Palmerston North
Folio	5957
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

110

28 July 1919

Francis Bernard Ryan
Mary Edith Matthews

Francis Bernard Ryan
Mary Edith Matthews
💍 1919/6503

Widower
Widow

Orchardist
Domestic

43
46

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 years
6 years

Residence of Mrs L. Max, 2 Waldegrave Street Palmerston North

5958

28 July 1919

Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	110
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Bernard Ryan	Mary Edith Matthews
	💍 1919/6503
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic
Age	43	46
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs L. Max, 2 Waldegrave Street Palmerston North
Folio	5958
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

111

30 July 1919

Frederick Charles Paul
Agnes Winifred Watson

Frederick Charles Paul
Agnes Winifred Watson
💍 1919/6504

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

20 years
5 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5959

30 July 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	111
Date of Notice	30 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Paul	Agnes Winifred Watson
	💍 1919/6504
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5959
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 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).