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 1661

District of Shannon Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar W. B. Naylor

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

12 July 1919

Gordon Cranley Staples
Aldyth Maud Adeline Pedersen

Gordon Cranley Staples
Aldyrth Maud Adeline Pedersen
💍 1919/6557

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

28
21

Shannon
Shannon

10 years
14 years

Private Residence of M. O. P. Pedersen, East Road, Shannon

6015

12 July 1919

Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	12 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Cranley Staples	Aldyth Maud Adeline Pedersen
BDM Match (98%)	Gordon Cranley Staples	Aldyrth Maud Adeline Pedersen
	💍 1919/6557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of M. O. P. Pedersen, East Road, Shannon
Folio	6015
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

11 August 1919

Frederick Samuel Mardon
Mabel Matilda Ackermann

Frederick Samuel Mardon
Mabel Matilda Ackermann
💍 1919/6558

Widower (29-9-15)
Spinster

Flaxmill worker
Domestic Duties

25
20

Shannon
Shannon

12 months
12 months

Private Residence of Mr. G. Mardon, Winne Street, Shannon

6016

Henry Emil Ackermann, Father

11 August 1919

Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	11 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Samuel Mardon	Mabel Matilda Ackermann
	💍 1919/6558
Condition	Widower (29-9-15)	Spinster
Profession	Flaxmill worker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr. G. Mardon, Winne Street, Shannon
Folio	6016
Consent	Henry Emil Ackermann, Father
Date of Certificate	11 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

15 August 1919

Harry Edwin Hunt
Minnie Florence Emma Dunckley

Harry Edwin Hunt
Minnie Florence Emma Dunckley
💍 1919/6559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Bookseller

39
33

Shannon
Shannon

2 years
10 years

Anglican Church, Shannon

6017

15 August 1919

Rev. H. A. Walke, Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	15 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edwin Hunt	Minnie Florence Emma Dunckley
	💍 1919/6559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Bookseller
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Shannon
Folio	6017
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Walke, Anglican

18 August 1919

Alfred John Herbert White
Mary Stevenson

Alfred John Herbert White
Mary Stevenson
💍 1919/6560

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

29
22

Tokomaru
Tokomaru

1 week
15 years

Dwelling of George Stevenson, Tokomaru

6018

18 August 1919

Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	18 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Herbert White	Mary Stevenson
	💍 1919/6560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Tokomaru	Tokomaru
Length of Residence	1 week	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of George Stevenson, Tokomaru
Folio	6018
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

21 August 1919

Leonard Wilson
Winifred Matilda Moody

Leonard Wilton
Winifred Matilda Moody
💍 1919/6561

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Tokomaru
Tokomaru

24 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Tokomaru

6019

21 August 1919

Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	21 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Wilson	Winifred Matilda Moody
BDM Match (96%)	Leonard Wilton	Winifred Matilda Moody
	💍 1919/6561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Tokomaru	Tokomaru
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tokomaru
Folio	6019
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, 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).