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 1633

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. A. Bayliffe

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

3 April 1919

Arthur Raymond Willis
Margaret Methuen Cook

Arthur Raymond Willis
Margaret Methven Cook
💍 1919/3652

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

21
18

Marton Junction
Marton Junction

15 Months
10 years

Church of England, Marton

3587

William Ambrose Cook, Father

3 April 1919

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	3 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Raymond Willis	Margaret Methuen Cook
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Raymond Willis	Margaret Methven Cook
	💍 1919/3652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Marton Junction	Marton Junction
Length of Residence	15 Months	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	3587
Consent	William Ambrose Cook, Father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

9 April 1919

Albert Cecil Steven
Olive Lillias Thoms

Albert Cecil Steven
Olive Lilias Thom
💍 1919/3653

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
24

Marton
Marton

2 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Marton

3588

9 April 1919

Rev. L. H. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Cecil Steven	Olive Lillias Thoms
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Cecil Steven	Olive Lilias Thom
	💍 1919/3653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Marton
Folio	3588
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. H. Hunt, Presbyterian

22 April 1919

Thomas Samuel Ward
Harriett Ann Armstrong

Thomas Samuel Ward
Harriette Ann Armstrong
💍 1919/3654

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

46
47

Marton
Marton

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Marton

3589

22 April 1919

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Samuel Ward	Harriett Ann Armstrong
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Samuel Ward	Harriette Ann Armstrong
	💍 1919/3654
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	46	47
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	3589
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

5 May 1919

Ellis John Neville
Evelyn Grown

Ellis John Neville
Evelyn Gronn
💍 1919/3655

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

38
25

Marton
Marton Junction

3 days
Life

Church of England, Marton

3590

5 May 1919

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellis John Neville	Evelyn Grown
BDM Match (96%)	Ellis John Neville	Evelyn Gronn
	💍 1919/3655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton Junction
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	3590
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

8 May 1919

John Beresford Ewan Dudding
Lorna Margaret Marshall

John Beresford Swan Dudding
Lorna Margaret Marshall
💍 1919/3656

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
23

Marton
Rata

3 years
10 years

Church of England, Tututotara

3591

8 May 1919

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	8 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Beresford Ewan Dudding	Lorna Margaret Marshall
BDM Match (98%)	John Beresford Swan Dudding	Lorna Margaret Marshall
	💍 1919/3656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Marton	Rata
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tututotara
Folio	3591
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

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).