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 1978

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. B. 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

1171

12 December 1919

Michael Joseph Feeney
Alice Isabel Guy

Michael Joseph Feeney
Alice Isabel Guy
💍 1919/8382

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
26

Karori
Karori

15 years
2 years

The Basilica Hill Street Wellington

8035

12 December 1919

Rev J. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	1171
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Feeney	Alice Isabel Guy
	💍 1919/8382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	8035
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

1172

12 December 1919

Gerald Lomas Stedman
Beryl Eileen Townsend

Gerald Lomax Stedman
Beryl Eileen Townsend
💍 1919/8383

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 Weeks
22 years

St Pauls Pro cathedral Wellington

8036

12 December 1919

Rev A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	1172
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Lomas Stedman	Beryl Eileen Townsend
BDM Match (98%)	Gerald Lomax Stedman	Beryl Eileen Townsend
	💍 1919/8383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Weeks	22 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro cathedral Wellington
Folio	8036
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Johnson, Anglican

1173

12 December 1919

Thomas Arthur Cordell
Alice Louisa Davenport

Thomas Arthur Cordell
Alice Louisa Devenport
💍 1919/8384

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

38
40

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
40 years

Presbyterian Manse 35 Nairn Street Wellington

8037

12 December 1919

Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1173
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Cordell	Alice Louisa Davenport
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Arthur Cordell	Alice Louisa Devenport
	💍 1919/8384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Nairn Street Wellington
Folio	8037
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

1174

12 December 1919

Gilbert Campbell Flight
Margaret Jane Blake

Gilbert Campbell Highet
Margaret Jane Blake
💍 1919/8385

Widower 14/1/1913
Spinster

Clerk

42
36

Roseneath
Roseneath

29 years
5 weeks

St Barnabas Church Roseneath Wellington

8038

12 December 1919

Rev R. Franklin, Anglican

No	1174
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Campbell Flight	Margaret Jane Blake
BDM Match (94%)	Gilbert Campbell Highet	Margaret Jane Blake
	💍 1919/8385
Condition	Widower 14/1/1913	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Roseneath	Roseneath
Length of Residence	29 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church Roseneath Wellington
Folio	8038
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Franklin, Anglican

1175

12 December 1919

Henry Maxwell
Ellen Vera Ronay

Henry Maxwell
Ellen Vera Roney
💍 1919/8386

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

21
23

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
3 years

Unitarian Church Wellington

8039

12 December 1919

Rev E. Hale, Unitarian

No	1175
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Maxwell	Ellen Vera Ronay
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Maxwell	Ellen Vera Roney
	💍 1919/8386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church Wellington
Folio	8039
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Hale, Unitarian

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).