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 1651

District of Sanson Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar Ross Richardson

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

20 May 1919

Basil Keith Thomson
Annie Estelle Perrett

Basil Keith Thomson
Annie Estelle Perrett
💍 1919/1428

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

26
25

Awahuri
Sanson

26 years
25 years

Church of England Sanson

3599

20 May 1919

Rev. Alan Innes-Jones, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	20 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Keith Thomson	Annie Estelle Perrett
	💍 1919/1428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Awahuri	Sanson
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Sanson
Folio	3599
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alan Innes-Jones, Church of England

26 May 1919

James Gaston
Alice Anderson

James Gaston
Alice Anderson
💍 1919/1429

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Parlour Maid

29
27

Awahuri
Awahuri

3 days
3 days

Dwelling of Mr. George Hickford, Awahuri

3600

26 May 1919

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	26 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gaston	Alice Anderson
	💍 1919/1429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Parlour Maid
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Awahuri	Awahuri
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. George Hickford, Awahuri
Folio	3600
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

16 June 1919

Alfred Trembath
Janet Rosina Lucas

Alfred Trembath
Janet Rosina Lucas
💍 1919/3622

Bachelor (Minor)
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

20
21

Awahuri
Awahuri

5 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Awahuri

3601

Jane Dynan formerly Trembath, Mother of Bridegroom

19 June 1919

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	16 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Trembath	Janet Rosina Lucas
	💍 1919/3622
Condition	Bachelor (Minor)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Awahuri	Awahuri
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Awahuri
Folio	3601
Consent	Jane Dynan formerly Trembath, Mother of Bridegroom
Date of Certificate	19 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

14 June 1919

William Alexander Moyle
Frances Edevine Henson

William Alexander Moyle
Frances Edevine Henson
💍 1919/3633

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese maker
Domestic Duties

41
28

Sanson
Sanson

3 days
28 years

Wesleyan Church, Sanson

3602

17 June 1919

Rev. B. J. James, Wesleyan

No	7
Date of Notice	14 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Moyle	Frances Edevine Henson
	💍 1919/3633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese maker	Domestic Duties
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Sanson	Sanson
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Sanson
Folio	3602
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. James, Wesleyan

23 June 1919

James Hamilton Russell
Joyce Kathleen Grace McKelvie

James Hamilton Russell
Joyce Kathleen Grace McKelvie
💍 1919/3640

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

27
25

Wanganui
Carnarvon

26 years
25 years

Public Hall, Carnarvon

3603

23 June 1919

Rev. J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	23 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hamilton Russell	Joyce Kathleen Grace McKelvie
	💍 1919/3640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Carnarvon
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall, Carnarvon
Folio	3603
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

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).