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 1944

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. G. E. Emms

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

1001

4 November 1919

Denis Feenay
Mary Dunn

Denis Feeney
Mary Lunn
💍 1919/8249

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

35
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Francis Church Island Bay Wellington

7878

4 November 1919

Rev. E. Kimball, Roman Catholic

No	1001
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Feenay	Mary Dunn
BDM Match (90%)	Denis Feeney	Mary Lunn
	💍 1919/8249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Francis Church Island Bay Wellington
Folio	7878
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Kimball, Roman Catholic

1002

5 November 1919

William Arthur Morris
Amy Hargreaves

William Arthur Morris
Amy Hargreaves
💍 1919/8250

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
40

Wellington
Wellington

5 Months
3 days

St Mary's Church Karori Wellington

7879

5 November 1919

Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

No	1002
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Morris	Amy Hargreaves
	💍 1919/8250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 Months	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Karori Wellington
Folio	7879
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

1003

5 November 1919

Hector Vincent Winnie
Eileen Florence Devris

Hector Vincent Winnie
Eileen Florence Devine
💍 1919/8251

Bachelor
Widow 22/11/1918

Driver

23
21

Petone
Petone

23 years
20 years

Church of the Sacred Heart Petone

7880

5 November 1919

Rev. N. Quealy, Roman Catholic

No	1003
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Vincent Winnie	Eileen Florence Devris
BDM Match (93%)	Hector Vincent Winnie	Eileen Florence Devine
	💍 1919/8251
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 22/11/1918
Profession	Driver
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart Petone
Folio	7880
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Quealy, Roman Catholic

1004

5 November 1919

Kenneth Noel Andrews
Frances Lamerton Hall

Kenneth Noel Andrews
Frances Lamerton Hall
💍 1919/8252

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Methodist Church Molesworth Street Wellington

7881

5 November 1919

Rev A. Reader, Methodist

No	1004
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Noel Andrews	Frances Lamerton Hall
	💍 1919/8252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Molesworth Street Wellington
Folio	7881
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Reader, Methodist

1005

5 November 1919

John Robert Wiltshire
Mary Swadel Franklin

John Robert Wiltshire
Mary Swadel Franklin
💍 1919/8253

Bachelor
Widow 26/3/1919

Seaman

34
30

Mitchelltown
Mitchelltown

9 years
4 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

7882

5 November 1919

Registrar

No	1005
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Wiltshire	Mary Swadel Franklin
	💍 1919/8253
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 26/3/1919
Profession	Seaman
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Mitchelltown	Mitchelltown
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7882
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).