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 1905

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. C. Bonner

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

820

18 September 1919

Kerrison Morris
Ellen Isabel Morris

Kerrison Morris
Ellen Isabel Morris
💍 1919/4323

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 29 August 1919

Soldier

35
35

Petone
Petone

7 Months
2 Years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4882

18 September 1919

Registrar

No	820
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kerrison Morris	Ellen Isabel Morris
	💍 1919/4323
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 29 August 1919
Profession	Soldier
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	7 Months	2 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4882
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

821

18 September 1919

Percival Charles Armitage Cameron
Myrtle Marcella Sadgrove

Percival Charles Armitage Cameron
Myrtle Marcella Sadgrove
💍 1919/7078

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
19

Kaiwarawara
Wellington

24 Years
19 Years

St. Johns Presbyterian Church Wellington

6565

Angus Ferguson Sadgrove Father

18 September 1919

Rev. J. Paterson

No	821
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Charles Armitage Cameron	Myrtle Marcella Sadgrove
	💍 1919/7078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarawara	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 Years	19 Years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	6565
Consent	Angus Ferguson Sadgrove Father
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

822

18 September 1919

William Clinton Rowe
Mary Shaw

William Clinton Knox
Mary Shaw
💍 1919/5562

Divorced Decree Absolute 10 September 1907
Widow 5 December 1918

Tailor's Cutter

47
41

Wellington
Wellington

8 Years
41 Years

Residence of the Bride 58 Ross St Kilbirnie Wellington

4845

18 September 1919

Rev. H. Beggs

No	822
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clinton Rowe	Mary Shaw
BDM Match (90%)	William Clinton Knox	Mary Shaw
	💍 1919/5562
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 10 September 1907	Widow 5 December 1918
Profession	Tailor's Cutter
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 Years	41 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride 58 Ross St Kilbirnie Wellington
Folio	4845
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

823

18 September 1919

George Conroy
Mary Olive Beatrice Floyd

George Conroy
Mary Olive Beatrice Floyd
💍 1919/5563

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Messenger

36
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

The Basilica Hill Street Wellington

4846

18 September 1919

Rev. J. L. Dignan

No	823
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Conroy	Mary Olive Beatrice Floyd
	💍 1919/5563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Messenger
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	4846
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Dignan

824

18 September 1919

Henry William Curtis
Ellen Keefe

Henry William Curtis
Ellen Keefe
💍 1919/5564

Widower 8 June 1915
Spinster

Retired

84
45

Wellington
Wellington

78 Years
45 Years

St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington

4847

18 September 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	824
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Curtis	Ellen Keefe
	💍 1919/5564
Condition	Widower 8 June 1915	Spinster
Profession	Retired
Age	84	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	78 Years	45 Years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	4847
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

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).