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 1759

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

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

106

14 February 1919

Norman Howard Evans
Meta Vera Bell

Norman Howard Evans
Neta Vera Bell
💍 1919/410

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20
18

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
18 years

The Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

201

Frederick Evans, Father; John Bell, Father

14 February 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	106
Date of Notice	14 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Howard Evans	Meta Vera Bell
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Howard Evans	Neta Vera Bell
	💍 1919/410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	201
Consent	Frederick Evans, Father; John Bell, Father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

107

14 February 1919

Robert Dreaver
Euphemia Alice Milne

Robert Dreaver
Euphemia Alice Milne
💍 1919/421

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

36
29

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
3 years

The Presbyterian Manse, 14 Hobson Street, Wellington

202

14 February 1919

Rev. D. R. Orr

No	107
Date of Notice	14 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dreaver	Euphemia Alice Milne
	💍 1919/421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, 14 Hobson Street, Wellington
Folio	202
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. Orr

108

14 February 1919

Raymond Francis Woodley Grigg
Hylda Carmen Aston

Raymond Francis Woodley Grigg
Hylda Carmen Aston
💍 1919/428

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
8 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

203

14 February 1919

Rev. T. F. Taylor

No	108
Date of Notice	14 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Francis Woodley Grigg	Hylda Carmen Aston
	💍 1919/428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	203
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor

109

17 February 1919

John Dollar
Alice Blanche Nicoll

John Dollar
Alice Blanche Nicoll
💍 1919/429

Widower 15/2/1917
Spinster

Farmer

57
45

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
14 days

St. Johns Church, Wellington

204

17 February 1919

Rev. J. Gibb

No	109
Date of Notice	17 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dollar	Alice Blanche Nicoll
	💍 1919/429
Condition	Widower 15/2/1917	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	57	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Wellington
Folio	204
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

110

17 February 1919

Edward Smith
Elizabeth Mary Olsen

Edward Smith
Elizabeth Mary Olsen
💍 1919/430

Bachelor
Widow 20/1/1915

Farmer

62
59

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

205

17 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	110
Date of Notice	17 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Smith	Elizabeth Mary Olsen
	💍 1919/430
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20/1/1915
Profession	Farmer
Age	62	59
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	205
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 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).