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 1976

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

1161

10 December 1919

Reuben Smith
Ellen Blizzard Gullery

Reuben Smith
Ellen Blizzard Gullery
💍 1919/8398

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Fireman

37
29

Wellington
Wellington

1 Month
10 Years

Registrar's Office Wellington

8027

10 December 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	1161
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Smith	Ellen Blizzard Gullery
	💍 1919/8398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Fireman
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 Month	10 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	8027
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1162

10 December 1919

Ernest Sturrock Velvin
Kathleen Mary Haydon

Ernest Sturrock Velvin
Kathleen Mary Haydon
💍 1919/8399

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 Months
2 Years

Residence of Mr. H. C. Murray 128 The Parade Lyall Bay Wellington

8028

10 December 1919

Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	1162
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sturrock Velvin	Kathleen Mary Haydon
	💍 1919/8399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 Months	2 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. C. Murray 128 The Parade Lyall Bay Wellington
Folio	8028
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

1163

10 December 1919

Walter James Butler
Margaret Witherspoon Bairn Edwards Cochrane

Walter James Butler
Margaret Wetherspoon Bain Edwards Cochrane
💍 1920/2578

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

26
21

Paremata
Paremata

2 Years
2 Years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

40/1920

10 December 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1163
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Butler	Margaret Witherspoon Bairn Edwards Cochrane
BDM Match (98%)	Walter James Butler	Margaret Wetherspoon Bain Edwards Cochrane
	💍 1920/2578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Paremata	Paremata
Length of Residence	2 Years	2 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	40/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

1164

10 December 1919

James Chung Gong Wong
Tuen Tai

James Chung Gong Wong
Yuen Tai
💍 1919/8400

Previously married in China
Previously married in China to each other

Storekeeper

31
29

Wellington
Wellington

5 Days (new arrival per S.S. Manuka)
5 Days (new arrival per S.S. Manuka)

Anglican Chinese Mission Church Frederick Street Wellington

8029

10 December 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	1164
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Chung Gong Wong	Tuen Tai
BDM Match (94%)	James Chung Gong Wong	Yuen Tai
	💍 1919/8400
Condition	Previously married in China	Previously married in China to each other
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 Days (new arrival per S.S. Manuka)	5 Days (new arrival per S.S. Manuka)
Marriage Place	Anglican Chinese Mission Church Frederick Street Wellington
Folio	8029
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

1165

10 December 1919

Ian Augustine Mackay
Doris Constance Olive McIntyre

Ian Augustine Mackay
Doris Constance Olive McIntyre
💍 1919/8401

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
26

Wellington
Lower Hutt

3 Years
Life

Anglican Church Lower Hutt

8030

10 December 1919

Rev. A. L. Hansell, Anglican

No	1165
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ian Augustine Mackay	Doris Constance Olive McIntyre
	💍 1919/8401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 Years	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Lower Hutt
Folio	8030
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell, 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).