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 1947

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. G. Evans

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

1016

10 November 1919

William Corbin Mackmillan
Ivy Myrtle Jones

William Corsin Mackmillan
Ivy Myrtle Jones
💍 1919/8240

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

21
21

Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie

11 Months
10 years

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

7893

10 November 1919

Rev. J. H. Sykes, Anglican

No	1016
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Corbin Mackmillan	Ivy Myrtle Jones
BDM Match (98%)	William Corsin Mackmillan	Ivy Myrtle Jones
	💍 1919/8240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	11 Months	10 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	7893
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes, Anglican

1017

11 November 1919

Charles Edward Gill
Susannah Retallack Roberts

Charles Edward Gill
Susannah Retallack Roberts
💍 1919/8242

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

30 days
24 years

Trinity Church, Newtown, Wellington

7894

11 November 1919

Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

No	1017
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Gill	Susannah Retallack Roberts
	💍 1919/8242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	7894
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake, Methodist

1018

11 November 1919

Thomas Mitchell
Gotolda Elizabeth Frances Labatt

Thomas Mitchell
Gotolda Elizabeth Frances Labatt
💍 1919/8243

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Servant

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 Months
2 Months

Church of Christ, Vivian Street, Wellington

7895

11 November 1919

Mr Ira A. Paternoster, Church of Christ

No	1018
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mitchell	Gotolda Elizabeth Frances Labatt
	💍 1919/8243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Servant
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 Months	2 Months
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	7895
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr Ira A. Paternoster, Church of Christ

1019

11 November 1919

William Samuel Salmons
Vera Maude Staples

William Samuel Salmons
Vera Maude Staples
💍 1919/8244

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

24
24

Karori
Karori

3 days
8 years

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

7896

11 November 1919

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	1019
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Samuel Salmons	Vera Maude Staples
	💍 1919/8244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	7896
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

1020

11 November 1919

James William Oneill
Rosina Flora Hudson

James William O'Neill
Robina Flora Hudson
💍 1919/8245

Bachelor
Spinster

Postman

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
17 years

Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

7897

11 November 1919

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	1020
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Oneill	Rosina Flora Hudson
BDM Match (93%)	James William O'Neill	Robina Flora Hudson
	💍 1919/8245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	7897
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, 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).