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 1667

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar John P. Sheridan

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

11 April 1919

Frederick William Henry Lewers
Lillian Hilda Stewart

Frederick William Henry Luers
Lillian Hilda Stewart
💍 1919/3663

Widower
Divorced 26/2/19

Saw Miller
Household Duties

53
28

Utiku
Feilding

3 years
18 months

Parsons House Rongotea

3597

11 April 1919

Rev. J. Lawson, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Henry Lewers	Lillian Hilda Stewart
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick William Henry Luers	Lillian Hilda Stewart
	💍 1919/3663
Condition	Widower	Divorced 26/2/19
Profession	Saw Miller	Household Duties
Age	53	28
Dwelling Place	Utiku	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Parsons House Rongotea
Folio	3597
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lawson, Church of England

14 April 1919

Eugene Sullivan
Ivory Elizabeth Penn

Eugene Sullivan
Ivy Elizabeth Penn
💍 1919/3643

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Household duties

30
26

Winiata
Wanganui

3 weeks
16 years

Roman Catholic Church Taihape

3606

14 April 1919

Father Minogue, Taihape

No	6
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Sullivan	Ivory Elizabeth Penn
BDM Match (95%)	Eugene Sullivan	Ivy Elizabeth Penn
	💍 1919/3643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Household duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Winiata	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 weeks	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Taihape
Folio	3606
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Father Minogue, Taihape

14 April 1919

Bothwell Alexander Fraser
Annie Sinclair Fleming

Bothwell Alexander Fraser
Annie Sinclair Fleming
💍 1919/3644

Widower July 14th 1917
Spinster

Saddler
Household Duties

34
45

Taihape
Taihape

16 years
8 months

Presbyterian Manse Taihape

3607

14 April 1919

Rev J. McCaw, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bothwell Alexander Fraser	Annie Sinclair Fleming
	💍 1919/3644
Condition	Widower July 14th 1917	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Household Duties
Age	34	45
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	16 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Taihape
Folio	3607
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. McCaw, Presbyterian

16 April 1919

William Wallace Oliver
Geraldine Victoria Spooner

William Wallace Oliver
Geraldine Victoria Spooner
💍 1919/3645

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm manager
Household Duties

32
20

Taihape
Taihape

2 years
20 years

St Margaret's Church Taihape

3608

16 April 1919

Rev F.W. Tritt, Church of England, Taihape

No	8
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wallace Oliver	Geraldine Victoria Spooner
	💍 1919/3645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm manager	Household Duties
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Margaret's Church Taihape
Folio	3608
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F.W. Tritt, Church of England, Taihape

19 April 1919

Thomas Henry Dixon
Florence Timmons

Thomas Henry Dixon
Florence Simmonds
💍 1919/3646

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Household Duties

24
26

Taihape
Taihape

4 months
4 months

The Office of the Registrar Taihape

3609

19 April 1919

The Registrar, Taihape

No	9
Date of Notice	19 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Dixon	Florence Timmons
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Henry Dixon	Florence Simmonds
	💍 1919/3646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Household Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar Taihape
Folio	3609
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1919
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Taihape

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).