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 1863

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. C. O'Connor

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

611

25 July 1919

Alexander Macfarlane Johnston
Violet Constance Johnston

Alexander MacFarlane Johnston
Violet Constance Johnston
💍 1919/4268

Bachelor
Widow 15/6/1917

Cook

21
26

Wellington
Wellington

9 weeks
12 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

4724

25 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	611
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Macfarlane Johnston	Violet Constance Johnston
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander MacFarlane Johnston	Violet Constance Johnston
	💍 1919/4268
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 15/6/1917
Profession	Cook
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 weeks	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4724
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

612

25 July 1919

William Charles Ellis
Sara Elizabeth Dodd

William Charles Ellis
Sara Elizabeth Dodd
💍 1919/5444

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

48
32

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
4 days

St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

4678

25 July 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	612
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Ellis	Sara Elizabeth Dodd
	💍 1919/5444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	48	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	4678
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

613

25 July 1919

John Michael Giffney
Amelia Matilda Johnson

John Michael Giffney
Amelia Matilda Johnson
💍 1919/5445

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier + member N.Z.E.F.

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
6 years

St. Anne's Church Newtown Wellington

4679

25 July 1919

Rev. E. Kimbell

No	613
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Michael Giffney	Amelia Matilda Johnson
	💍 1919/5445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier + member N.Z.E.F.
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	4679
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Kimbell

614

25 July 1919

George Frederick Price
Eleanor Shaw

George Frederick Price
Eleanor Shaw
💍 1919/5446

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer

26
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

14 days
4 months

St. Augustine's Church Petone

4680

25 July 1919

Rev. H. T. Stealey

No	614
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Price	Eleanor Shaw
	💍 1919/5446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	14 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Petone
Folio	4680
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Stealey

615

26 July 1919

Terrence John Johnstone
Ada Mary Bond

Terrence John Johnstone
Ada Mary Bond
💍 1919/5447

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree absolute 11/12/1918

Telegraphist

37
38

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
3 months

St. James' Manse Wellington South

4681

26 July 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	615
Date of Notice	26 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Terrence John Johnstone	Ada Mary Bond
	💍 1919/5447
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree absolute 11/12/1918
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	37	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. James' Manse Wellington South
Folio	4681
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 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).