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 1823

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. G. Coulton

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

416

27 May 1919

James McKee Calway
Evelyn Morton Davies

James McKee Calway
Evelyn Morton Davies
💍 1919/2144

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

5 Years
4 Years

The Manse, 35 Pirie St. Wellington

1839

27 May 1919

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	416
Date of Notice	27 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKee Calway	Evelyn Morton Davies
	💍 1919/2144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 Years	4 Years
Marriage Place	The Manse, 35 Pirie St. Wellington
Folio	1839
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

417

27 May 1919

Ludwig Sigurd Larsen
Wilhelmina Lillian Blackie

Ludwig Sygurd Larsen
Wilhelmina Lillian Blackie
💍 1919/2145

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

24
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 Years
2 Years

The Residence of Mr Blackie, 172 Taranaki St Wellington

1900

Andrew Blackie Father

27 May 1919

Rev E. Drake

No	417
Date of Notice	27 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ludwig Sigurd Larsen	Wilhelmina Lillian Blackie
BDM Match (98%)	Ludwig Sygurd Larsen	Wilhelmina Lillian Blackie
	💍 1919/2145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Years	2 Years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr Blackie, 172 Taranaki St Wellington
Folio	1900
Consent	Andrew Blackie Father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Drake

418

27 May 1919

George Thomas Saker
May Frain

George Thomas Saker
May Frain
💍 1919/2078

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 Years
12 Years

Unitarian Church, Vivian Street Wellington

1901

Michael Joseph Frain Father

27 May 1919

Rev G. E. Hale

No	418
Date of Notice	27 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Saker	May Frain
	💍 1919/2078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 Years	12 Years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church, Vivian Street Wellington
Folio	1901
Consent	Michael Joseph Frain Father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. E. Hale

419

28 May 1919

Malcolm Hopkins Hood
Doris Barbara Wilson

Malcolm Hopkins Hood
Doris Barbara Wilson
💍 1919/2089

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
25

Silverstream
Silverstream

10 Years
Life

The Manse, 35 Pirie St. Wellington

1902

28 May 1919

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	419
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Hopkins Hood	Doris Barbara Wilson
	💍 1919/2089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Silverstream	Silverstream
Length of Residence	10 Years	Life
Marriage Place	The Manse, 35 Pirie St. Wellington
Folio	1902
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

420

29 May 1919

Alexander Wilson
Edith Whitton Gibson

Alexander Wilson
Edith Whitton Gileson
💍 1919/2096

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
2 Years

The Residence of Mr W. H. Gibson, 62 Pirie St Wellington

1903

29 May 1919

Rev W. Shirer

No	420
Date of Notice	29 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wilson	Edith Whitton Gibson
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Wilson	Edith Whitton Gileson
	💍 1919/2096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	2 Years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr W. H. Gibson, 62 Pirie St Wellington
Folio	1903
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

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).