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 1955

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. O. Ennis

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

1056

19 November 1919

Thomas Lamb Craigie
Clara Evelyn Barry

Thomas Lamb Craigie
Clara Evelyn Barry
💍 1919/8303

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
3 years

St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington

7933

19 November 1919

Rev. H Watson Anglican

No	1056
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lamb Craigie	Clara Evelyn Barry
	💍 1919/8303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	7933
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H Watson Anglican

1057

19 November 1919

Alexander Ralph Heenan
Violet Victoria Maria Elliott

Alexander Ralph Heenan
Violet Victoria Maria Elliott
💍 1919/8281

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
32 years

Residence of Mr J L Nicholson 38 Jefferson Street Brooklyn Wellington

7934

19 November 1919

Rev. W Shirer Presbyterian

No	1057
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Ralph Heenan	Violet Victoria Maria Elliott
	💍 1919/8281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J L Nicholson 38 Jefferson Street Brooklyn Wellington
Folio	7934
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W Shirer Presbyterian

1058

19 November 1919

William John Halligan
Isabel Frances Nicholas

William John Halligan
Isabel Frances Nicholas
💍 1919/8282

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
30

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
16 years

Methodist Church Thorndon Wellington

7935

19 November 1919

Rev A Reader Methodist

No	1058
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Halligan	Isabel Frances Nicholas
	💍 1919/8282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thorndon Wellington
Folio	7935
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Reader Methodist

1059

19 November 1919

George Walter Mayhill
Jessie Christina Ross

George Walter Mayhill
Jessie Christina Ross
💍 1919/8283

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent

32
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Baptist Church Vivian Street Wellington

7936

19 November 1919

Rev. S Beckingham Baptist

No	1059
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Walter Mayhill	Jessie Christina Ross
	💍 1919/8283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Vivian Street Wellington
Folio	7936
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S Beckingham Baptist

1060

19 November 1919

Alfred Ernest Auckram
Melva Emily Sowry

Alfred Ernest Auckram
Melva Emily Sowry
💍 1919/8284

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

33
23

Upper Hutt
Island Bay

20 years
18 years

Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington

7937

19 November 1919

Rev J G Chapman Methodist

No	1060
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Auckram	Melva Emily Sowry
	💍 1919/8284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Island Bay
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	7937
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J G Chapman Methodist

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).