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 1964

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. C. O'Connor

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

1101

27 November 1919

Eric Victor Walter
Violet Lillian Bell

Eric Victor Walter
Violet Lillian Bell
💍 1919/8329

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

19
21

Brooklyn
Wellington

19 years
20 years

Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

7974

Pauline Elizabeth Walter mother

27 November 1919

Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1101
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Victor Walter	Violet Lillian Bell
	💍 1919/8329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	7974
Consent	Pauline Elizabeth Walter mother
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

1102

27 November 1919

Edgar Stanley Doddington
Kathleen Alexander Porter

Edgar Stanley Doddington
Kathleen Alexander Porter
💍 1919/8340

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Hospital Attendant
Nurse

28
28

Porirua
Porirua

2 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

7975

27 November 1919

Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1102
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Stanley Doddington	Kathleen Alexander Porter
	💍 1919/8340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Hospital Attendant	Nurse
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	7975
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

1103

28 November 1919

James Patrick Moriarty
Kathleen Sullivan

James Patrick Moriarty
Kathleen Sullivan
💍 1919/8347

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Employee

35
28

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
28 years

St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

7976

28 November 1919

Rev D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	1103
Date of Notice	28 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patrick Moriarty	Kathleen Sullivan
	💍 1919/8347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Employee
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	7976
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

1104

28 November 1919

Herbert Allen Howell
Margaret Josephine Gronkin

Herbert Allen Howell
Margaret Josephine Grondin
💍 1919/8348

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
18 months

St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington

7977

28 November 1919

Rev E. Jones, Anglican

No	1104
Date of Notice	28 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Allen Howell	Margaret Josephine Gronkin
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Allen Howell	Margaret Josephine Grondin
	💍 1919/8348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	7977
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Jones, Anglican

1105

28 November 1919

Albert Edward Couchman
Helen Deborah Whiteacre

Albert Edward Couchman
Helen Deborah Whiteam
💍 1919/8349

Widower 19/3/1919
Spinster

Copper-Smith

34
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
5 years

St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington

7978

28 November 1919

Rev A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	1105
Date of Notice	28 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Couchman	Helen Deborah Whiteacre
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Edward Couchman	Helen Deborah Whiteam
	💍 1919/8349
Condition	Widower 19/3/1919	Spinster
Profession	Copper-Smith
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	7978
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Johnson, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).