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 1611

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 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

199

29 December 1919

Henry James Curran
Annie Browning

Henry James Curran
Annie Browning
💍 1919/9120

Bachelor
Spinster

Road Inspector
Domestic

50
40

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
6 months

The Residence of Mr. H. Browning, 4 Ranfurly Street, Palmerston North

8858

29 December 1919

Mr. Thomas Rowe, Brethren

No	199
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Curran	Annie Browning
	💍 1919/9120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Road Inspector	Domestic
Age	50	40
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. H. Browning, 4 Ranfurly Street, Palmerston North
Folio	8858
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. Thomas Rowe, Brethren

200

30 December 1919

John Baird Taylor
Eva Dorothy Capp

John Baird Taylor
Eva Dorothy Capp
💍 1919/9121

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
17 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

8859

30 December 1919

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	200
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Baird Taylor	Eva Dorothy Capp
	💍 1919/9121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	8859
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

201

30 December 1919

Frederick John Legg
Emilie Henrietta Dons

Frederick John Legg
Emilie Henrietta Dons
💍 1920/2661

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

42
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 days
4 years

Lutheran Church, Church Street, Palmerston North

99/1920

30 December 1919

Rev. M. Christensen, Lutheran

No	201
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Legg	Emilie Henrietta Dons
	💍 1920/2661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	42	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church, Church Street, Palmerston North
Folio	99/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Christensen, Lutheran

202

31 December 1919

Thomas Edward Manifold
Linda Jane Bell Mead

Thomas Edward Manifold
Linda Jane Bell Mead
💍 1920/2662

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
32

Linton
Palmerston North

5 years
3 days

Church of England Linton

100/1920

31 December 1919

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	202
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Manifold	Linda Jane Bell Mead
	💍 1920/2662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Linton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Linton
Folio	100/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

203

31 December 1919

Frederick William Thomas Bradshaw
Alice Codial Stubbs

Frederick William Thomas Bradshaw
Alice Edith Stubbs
💍 1919/9098

Bachelor
Spinster

Permanent Staff Officer
Domestic

26
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 years

St. Paul's Methodist Church Palmerston North

8860

31 December 1919

Rev. G. S. Cook, Methodist

No	203
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Thomas Bradshaw	Alice Codial Stubbs
BDM Match (89%)	Frederick William Thomas Bradshaw	Alice Edith Stubbs
	💍 1919/9098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Permanent Staff Officer	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	8860
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook, 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).