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 1945

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

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

1006

6 November 1919

Reuben Goldblatt
Ailsen Naomi Ziman

Reuben Goldblatt
Aileen Naomi Girvan
💍 1919/8254

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

30
23

Brooklyn
Kilbirnie

5 years
5 years

The Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington

7883

6 November 1919

Rev. H. Van Staveren, Hebrew

No	1006
Date of Notice	6 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Goldblatt	Ailsen Naomi Ziman
BDM Match (89%)	Reuben Goldblatt	Aileen Naomi Girvan
	💍 1919/8254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7883
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Van Staveren, Hebrew

1007

6 November 1919

Saleem Mattar
Emily Blossom Shaik Shaib

Saleem Mattar
Emily Blossom Shaib
💍 1919/8231

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser & Tobacconist

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
13 years

St Johns Church, Wellington

7884

6 November 1919

Rev. J. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	1007
Date of Notice	6 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Saleem Mattar	Emily Blossom Shaik Shaib
BDM Match (88%)	Saleem Mattar	Emily Blossom Shaib
	💍 1919/8231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser & Tobacconist
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Wellington
Folio	7884
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

1008

7 November 1919

Alfred Heath
Helen Grant Fraser

Alfred Heath
Helen Grant Fraser
💍 1919/8232

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
22

Wellington
Wellington

11 Months
4 years

Alexandra Home, 28 Hanson Street, Wellington

7885

7 November 1919

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	1008
Date of Notice	7 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Heath	Helen Grant Fraser
	💍 1919/8232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 Months	4 years
Marriage Place	Alexandra Home, 28 Hanson Street, Wellington
Folio	7885
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

1009

7 November 1919

William Edward Headifen
Emma Teresa Andrews

William Edward Headifen
Emma Teresa Andrews
💍 1919/8233

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

44
26

Wellington
Wellington

Life
6 years

St Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington

7886

7 November 1919

Rev. M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

No	1009
Date of Notice	7 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Headifen	Emma Teresa Andrews
	💍 1919/8233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	44	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	6 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	7886
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

1010

8 November 1919

Herbert Eric Bird
Ruby Ranfurly Donaldson

Herbert Eric Bird
Ruby Ranfurly Donaldson
💍 1919/8234

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

23
22

Petone
Wellington

12 years
22 years

St John's Church, Wellington

7887

8 November 1919

Rev. J. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	1010
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Eric Bird	Ruby Ranfurly Donaldson
	💍 1919/8234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wellington
Folio	7887
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

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).