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 1943

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar P. D. K. Bennett

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

996

3 November 1919

Charles Edwin Goodyear
Flora Isabella Thomson

Charles Edwin Goodyear
Flora Isabella Thomson
💍 1919/8221

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Marine Officer

31
25

SS Karamea
Newtown

4 months
6 weeks

St Johns Presbyterian Church, Wellington

7873

3 November 1919

Rev. J. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	996
Date of Notice	3 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Goodyear	Flora Isabella Thomson
	💍 1919/8221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Marine Officer
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	SS Karamea	Newtown
Length of Residence	4 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Johns Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	7873
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

997

3 November 1919

Gilbert Stonham Short
Ethel May Paviour

Gilbert Stonham Short
Ethel May Paviour
💍 1919/8222

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

37
33

Lyall Bay
Wellington

5 days
5 days

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

7874

3 November 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	997
Date of Notice	3 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Stonham Short	Ethel May Paviour
	💍 1919/8222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Lyall Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7874
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

998

3 November 1919

Henry Duncan
Mary Steel Gray

Henry Duncan
Mary Steel Grey
💍 1919/8230

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

7875

Henry Samuel Gray (Father)

3 November 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	998
Date of Notice	3 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Duncan	Mary Steel Gray
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Duncan	Mary Steel Grey
	💍 1919/8230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7875
Consent	Henry Samuel Gray (Father)
Date of Certificate	3 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

999

4 November 1919

Norman Gilbert Dalzell
Lillian Irene Watson

Norman Gilbert Dalzell
Lillian Irene Watson
💍 1919/8241

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

8 days
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7876

4 November 1919

Registrar

No	999
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Gilbert Dalzell	Lillian Irene Watson
	💍 1919/8241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7876
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1000

4 November 1919

Charles Ernest Smith
Annie Maria Bartell

Charles Ernest Smith
Annie Maria Cattell
💍 1919/8248

Charles Edward Smith
Elsie Mary Clarke
💍 1919/3278

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

47
41

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
9 years

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

7877

4 November 1919

Rev. A. Hunt, Congregational

No	1000
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Smith	Annie Maria Bartell
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Ernest Smith	Annie Maria Cattell
	💍 1919/8248
BDM Match (61%)	Charles Edward Smith	Elsie Mary Clarke
	💍 1919/3278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7877
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hunt, Congregational

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).