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 1771

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

166

10 March 1919

William Henry Sheather
Maud McKearney

William Henry Sheather
Maud McKearney
💍 1919/1878

Bachelor
Widow 22/5/17

Shearer

32
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

1659

10 March 1919

Dep. Registrar

No	166
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Sheather	Maud McKearney
	💍 1919/1878
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 22/5/17
Profession	Shearer
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1659
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Dep. Registrar

167

10 March 1919

Frank Richard Percoe
Agnes Ruth Ireland

Frank Richard Vercoe
Agnes Ruth Ireland
💍 1919/484

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
6 weeks

St Matthew's Church Brooklyn Wellington

259

Benjamin Ireland father

10 March 1919

Rev. G. W. Dent

No	167
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Richard Percoe	Agnes Ruth Ireland
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Richard Vercoe	Agnes Ruth Ireland
	💍 1919/484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church Brooklyn Wellington
Folio	259
Consent	Benjamin Ireland father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent

168

11 March 1919

Alexander Mitchell Stewart
Elsie Eveline Macdonald

Alexander Mitchell Stewart
Elsie Eveline Macdonald
💍 1919/461

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
10 years

St John's Church Willis Street Wellington

260

11 March 1919

Rev. J. Gibb

No	168
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mitchell Stewart	Elsie Eveline Macdonald
	💍 1919/461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	260
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

169

11 March 1919

Charles James McLean
Jane McDonald

Charles James McLean
Jane McDonald
💍 1919/462

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

36
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 year

St Andrew's Manse 14 Hobson Street Wellington

261

11 March 1919

Rev. S. Robertson Orr

No	169
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James McLean	Jane McDonald
	💍 1919/462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Manse 14 Hobson Street Wellington
Folio	261
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Robertson Orr

170

11 March 1919

Ernest Arthur Oliver
Beatrice Wells

Ernest Arthur Oliver
Beatrice Wells
💍 1919/1879

Divorcer Decree Absolute 2.6.17
Spinster

Butcher

36
31

Petone
Petone

2 weeks
3 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

1660

11 March 1919

Dep. Registrar

No	170
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Oliver	Beatrice Wells
	💍 1919/1879
Condition	Divorcer Decree Absolute 2.6.17	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1660
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Dep. 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).