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 1639

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. M. Soughton

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

21 October 1919

William George Winchcombe
Eileen Gray

William George Winchcombe
Eileen Gray
💍 1919/9104

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic Duties

23
20

Marton
Marton

7 years
2 months

Methodist Church Marton

8806

Joseph Henry Gray, Father

21 October 1919

Rev. P. J. Cossum, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Winchcombe	Eileen Gray
	💍 1919/9104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	7 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Marton
Folio	8806
Consent	Joseph Henry Gray, Father
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cossum, Methodist

4 November 1919

Leslie George Moss
Leah Alder

Leslie George Moss
Leah Alder
💍 1919/9105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Waitress

25
27

Greatford
Marton

Life
6 years

Church of England Greatford

8807

4 November 1919

Rev. F. H. Ransom, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie George Moss	Leah Alder
	💍 1919/9105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Waitress
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Greatford	Marton
Length of Residence	Life	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Greatford
Folio	8807
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Ransom, Church of England

24 November 1919

Henry Waldo Collier
Ida Gertrude Barley

Harry Walds Collier
Ida Gertrude Carley
💍 1919/9013

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
34

Marton
Feilding

4 years
14 days

Church of England Feilding

8724

24 November 1919

Archdeacon A. S. Innes-Jones, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Waldo Collier	Ida Gertrude Barley
BDM Match (89%)	Harry Walds Collier	Ida Gertrude Carley
	💍 1919/9013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Marton	Feilding
Length of Residence	4 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Feilding
Folio	8724
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon A. S. Innes-Jones, Church of England

24 November 1919

Percy Ludwig Winkelmann
Janey Burgess

Percy Ludwig Windelburn
Janey Burgess
💍 1919/9106

Bachelor
Widow

Drover
Domestic Duties

27
31

Marton
Marton

27 years
2 1/2 years

Residence of Joseph William Winkelmann, Crofton

8808

24 November 1919

Rev. P. J. Cossum, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Ludwig Winkelmann	Janey Burgess
BDM Match (91%)	Percy Ludwig Windelburn	Janey Burgess
	💍 1919/9106
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	27 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph William Winkelmann, Crofton
Folio	8808
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cossum, Methodist

25 November 1919

Norman John Pugh
Alice Maud Morgan

Norman John Pugh
Alice Maude Morgan
💍 1919/8310

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephonist
Domestic Duties

28
23

Marton
Wellington

5 months
4 months

St. Peters Church of England Wellington

7963

25 November 1919

Rev. H. Watson, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	25 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman John Pugh	Alice Maud Morgan
BDM Match (97%)	Norman John Pugh	Alice Maude Morgan
	💍 1919/8310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephonist	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Marton	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church of England Wellington
Folio	7963
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, 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).