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 1731

District of Waverley Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar W. B. Cunningham

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

25 April 1919

Frank Middleton
Isabella Buttar

Frank Middleton
Isabella Buttar
💍 1919/3707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Waverley
Waverley

1 year
4 years

Residence of Mr Alexander Buttar, Brassey Street, Waverley

3669

25 April 1919

Revd Donald McIvor, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	25 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Middleton	Isabella Buttar
	💍 1919/3707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Alexander Buttar, Brassey Street, Waverley
Folio	3669
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Revd Donald McIvor, Presbyterian

6 May 1919

George William Marshall
Minnie Elizabeth Milham

George William Marshall
Minnie Elizabeth Milham
💍 1919/3709

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter and Paperhanger
Domestic

25
23

Waverley
Waverley

2 weeks
2 months

Saint Stephens Church, Waverley

3670

6 May 1919

Revd William James Hands, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	6 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Marshall	Minnie Elizabeth Milham
	💍 1919/3709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter and Paperhanger	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 months
Marriage Place	Saint Stephens Church, Waverley
Folio	3670
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Revd William James Hands, Church of England

20 May 1919

Nelson Dorigac
Mary Ellen McGowan

Nelson Dorizac
Mary Ellen McGowan
💍 1919/3710

Bachelor
Spinster

Piano Expert
Domestic Duties

33
19

Waverley
Waverley

3 days
18 months

Roman Catholic Church, Waverley

3671

Francis McGowan, Father

20 May 1919

Revd Cornelius Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	20 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Dorigac	Mary Ellen McGowan
BDM Match (96%)	Nelson Dorizac	Mary Ellen McGowan
	💍 1919/3710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Piano Expert	Domestic Duties
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waverley
Folio	3671
Consent	Francis McGowan, Father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Revd Cornelius Harnett, Roman Catholic

24 May 1919

Samuel Allan James Hill
Doreen Maud Watkins

Samuel Allan James Hill
Doreen Maud Watkins
💍 1919/3711

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

32
20

Waitotara
Waverley

11 months
20 years

Saint Stephens Church, Waverley

3672

William Henry Watkins, Father

24 May 1919

Revd William James Hands, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	24 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Allan James Hill	Doreen Maud Watkins
	💍 1919/3711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Waitotara	Waverley
Length of Residence	11 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Saint Stephens Church, Waverley
Folio	3672
Consent	William Henry Watkins, Father
Date of Certificate	24 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Revd William James Hands, Church of England

29 May 1919

William Lyall Oliver
Jessie Maud Armstrong

William Lyall Oliver
Jessie Maud Armstrong
💍 1919/3712

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Postmistress

33
23

Kohi
Kohi

5 years
15 years

Saint Stephens Church, Waverley

3673

29 May 1919

Revd William James Hands, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	29 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lyall Oliver	Jessie Maud Armstrong
	💍 1919/3712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Postmistress
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Kohi	Kohi
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Saint Stephens Church, Waverley
Folio	3673
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Revd William James Hands, 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).