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 1757

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

101

12 February 1919

Arthur Ernest Lyall
Letitia Eileen Mitchell

Arthur Ernest Lyall
Letitia Eileen Mitchell
💍 1919/4034

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
Life

Residence of Mrs. Mitchell, 129 Constable Street, Wellington

196

William James Mitchell, Father

12 February 1919

Rev. H. Beggs

No	101
Date of Notice	12 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Lyall	Letitia Eileen Mitchell
	💍 1919/4034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Mitchell, 129 Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	196
Consent	William James Mitchell, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

102

13 February 1919

Thomas Logie
Elizabeth McKinlay

Thomas Logie
Elizabeth McKinlay
💍 1919/4035

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

St. James's Manse, Wellington South

197

Isabella McKinlay, Mother

13 February 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	102
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Logie	Elizabeth McKinlay
	💍 1919/4035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James's Manse, Wellington South
Folio	197
Consent	Isabella McKinlay, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

103

13 February 1919

James Henry Doreen Manley
Eileen Maud Myrtle Thompson

James Henry Doreen Manley
Eileen Maud Myrtle Thompson
💍 1919/4036

Bachelor
Spinster

Physical Instructor

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

198

13 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	103
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Doreen Manley	Eileen Maud Myrtle Thompson
	💍 1919/4036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Physical Instructor
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	198
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

104

13 February 1919

James McKay
Mary Emily Bulfin

James McKay
Mary Emily Bulfin
💍 1919/4037

Widower
Spinster

City Council Employee 16/12/1918

50
45

Island Bay
Wellington

17 years
5 days

The House of Mr. R. McKay, 22 Highbury Road, Wellington

199

13 February 1919

Rev. W. Day

No	104
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKay	Mary Emily Bulfin
	💍 1919/4037
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	City Council Employee 16/12/1918
Age	50	45
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	5 days
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. R. McKay, 22 Highbury Road, Wellington
Folio	199
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Day

105

14 February 1919

Charles James Hoffeins
Irene Leta Low

Charles James Hoffeins
Irene Neta Low
💍 1919/4038

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

21
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

200

14 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	105
Date of Notice	14 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Hoffeins	Irene Leta Low
BDM Match (96%)	Charles James Hoffeins	Irene Neta Low
	💍 1919/4038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	200
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).