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 1677

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

4 January 1919

Laurence Clifford Morgan
Ida Amy Pearce

Laurence Clifford Morgan
Ida Amy Pearce
💍 1919/1583

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

24
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 years
8 months

Rev. S. Jenkin's Residence, Wanganui

1311

4 January 1919

Rev. S. Jenkin, Baptist

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Clifford Morgan	Ida Amy Pearce
	💍 1919/1583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Rev. S. Jenkin's Residence, Wanganui
Folio	1311
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Jenkin, Baptist

8 January 1919

Alfred Benjamin Muggeridge
Ethelinda Dabinett

Alfred Benjamin Muggeridge
Ethelinda Dabinett
💍 1919/1584

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

25
24

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
6 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

1312

8 January 1919

J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Benjamin Muggeridge	Ethelinda Dabinett
	💍 1919/1584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	1312
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1919
Officiating Minister	J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

10 January 1919

Henry Gorrie
Lizzie Graham

Henry Gowie
Lizzie Graham
💍 1919/1585

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Clerk

30
28

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
16 days

Residence of Mr. Joyce, Aramoho

1313

10 January 1919

N. G. Noble, Church of Christ

No	3
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gorrie	Lizzie Graham
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Gowie	Lizzie Graham
	💍 1919/1585
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	16 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Joyce, Aramoho
Folio	1313
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	N. G. Noble, Church of Christ

13 January 1919

Joseph Spicer
Daisy Charlotte Priscilla Bonnett

Joseph Spicer
Daisy Charlotte Priscilla Connett
💍 1919/1586

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Clerk

33
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

15 years
16 years

St. John's Church of England, Wanganui

1314

13 January 1919

H. Reeve, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Spicer	Daisy Charlotte Priscilla Bonnett
BDM Match (99%)	Joseph Spicer	Daisy Charlotte Priscilla Connett
	💍 1919/1586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Clerk
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	15 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Wanganui
Folio	1314
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1919
Officiating Minister	H. Reeve, Church of England

16 January 1919

Laurence Herbert Healey
Bella Robertson

Lawrence Herbert Healey
Bella Robertson
💍 1919/1587

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Clerk

29
29

Wanganui
Wanganui

16 years
29 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

1315

16 January 1919

J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Herbert Healey	Bella Robertson
BDM Match (98%)	Lawrence Herbert Healey	Bella Robertson
	💍 1919/1587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Clerk
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	16 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	1315
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	J. D. 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).