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 1969

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. C. Ennos

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

1126

4 December 1919

Walter Henry Sharon
Pauline Rosa O'Connor

Walter Henry Sharon
Pauline Rosa O'Connor
💍 1919/8344

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

30
23

Petone
Petone

15 years
14 years

Sacred Heart Church Petone

7996

4 December 1919

Rev. P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

No	1126
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Sharon	Pauline Rosa O'Connor
	💍 1919/8344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church Petone
Folio	7996
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Quealy, Roman Catholic

1127

4 December 1919

Francis Clarence Palmer
May Eva Jane Sykes

Francis Clarence Palmer
May Eva Jane Sykes
💍 1919/8345

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

25
23

Heretaunga
Heretaunga

6 months
1 year

Registrar's Office Wellington

7997

4 December 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	1127
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Clarence Palmer	May Eva Jane Sykes
	💍 1919/8345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Heretaunga	Heretaunga
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7997
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1128

4 December 1919

Martin Thomas Adams
Isabel Collins

Martin Thomas Adams
Isabel Collins
💍 1919/8346

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram conductor

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
9 years

The Presbyterian Manse 35 Vivian Street Wellington

7998

Clara Collins, Mother

4 December 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1128
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Thomas Adams	Isabel Collins
	💍 1919/8346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram conductor
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse 35 Vivian Street Wellington
Folio	7998
Consent	Clara Collins, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

1129

4 December 1919

Percy Ronald Harvey
Kathrine Hilda McInnes

Percy Ronald Harvey
Kathleen Hilda McInnes
💍 1919/8354

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
19 years

St Thomas Church Newtown Wellington

7999

Alexander McInnes Father Rebecca McInnes Mother

4 December 1919

Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	1129
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Ronald Harvey	Kathrine Hilda McInnes
BDM Match (91%)	Percy Ronald Harvey	Kathleen Hilda McInnes
	💍 1919/8354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	7999
Consent	Alexander McInnes Father Rebecca McInnes Mother
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

1130

4 December 1919

George Henry Markham
Ellen Mary Monkhouse

George Henry Markham
Ellen Mary Monkhouse
💍 1919/8365

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

33
21

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
6 years

St Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

8000

4 December 1919

Rev H Watson, Anglican

No	1130
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Markham	Ellen Mary Monkhouse
	💍 1919/8365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	8000
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Watson, 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).