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 1931

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. E. 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

936

20 October 1919

George Young Canton
Ellen Hooton

George Young Canton
Ellen Hooton
💍 1919/8490

Widower 29/4/1918
Spinster

Contractor

53
51

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

5 days
6 months

Anglican Church Johnsonville

8127

20 October 1919

Rev. C. H. Isaacson, Anglican

No	936
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Young Canton	Ellen Hooton
	💍 1919/8490
Condition	Widower 29/4/1918	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	53	51
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	5 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Johnsonville
Folio	8127
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacson, Anglican

937

20 October 1919

Walter Thomas Ward
Dorothy Muriel Florence Steer

Walter Thomas Ward
Dorothy Muriel Florence Steer
💍 1919/8164

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

20
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

7817

Charles John Ward Father; James Joseph Steer Father

20 October 1919

Registrar

No	937
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Ward	Dorothy Muriel Florence Steer
	💍 1919/8164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7817
Consent	Charles John Ward Father; James Joseph Steer Father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

938

20 October 1919

Richmond Shank
Constance Wright

Richmond Shanks
Constance Wright
💍 1919/8165

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 11/10/1918

Waiter

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
4 years

St. Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

7818

20 October 1919

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	938
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richmond Shank	Constance Wright
BDM Match (97%)	Richmond Shanks	Constance Wright
	💍 1919/8165
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 11/10/1918
Profession	Waiter
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	7818
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

939

20 October 1919

John McPherson
Dora Alice Varney

John McPherson
Dora Alice Varney
💍 1919/8166

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturers' Representative

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
7 years

Methodist Church Taranaki Street Wellington

7819

20 October 1919

Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

No	939
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McPherson	Dora Alice Varney
	💍 1919/8166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturers' Representative
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	7819
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

940

21 October 1919

John Rowe
Daisy Martha Hampton

John Rowe
Daisy Martina Hampton
💍 1919/8168

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand

44
39

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

7820

21 October 1919

Rev. G. N. Turner, Anglican

No	940
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rowe	Daisy Martha Hampton
BDM Match (95%)	John Rowe	Daisy Martina Hampton
	💍 1919/8168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	7820
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Turner, Anglican

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).