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 1938

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar P. 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

971

28 October 1919

Leslie Robert Hall
Bertha Edmonds

Leslie Robert Hall
Bertha Edmonds
💍 1919/8197

Bachelor
Spinster

Fire Brigadesman

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
8 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

7849

28 October 1919

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	971
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Robert Hall	Bertha Edmonds
	💍 1919/8197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fire Brigadesman
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	7849
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

972

28 October 1919

Walter Woodland Weston
Cecilia Maude Fraser

Walter Woodland Weston
Cecilia Maude Fraser
💍 1919/8198

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 8/5/1919

Letter Carrier

22
32

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
25 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7850

28 October 1919

Registrar

No	972
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Woodland Weston	Cecilia Maude Fraser
	💍 1919/8198
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 8/5/1919
Profession	Letter Carrier
Age	22	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7850
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

973

28 October 1919

Einar Ragnvald Lynneberg
Ethel Maud Wells

Einar Ragnvald Lynneberg
Ethel Maud Wells
💍 1919/8206

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
27

Ngaio
Ngaio

23 years
2 weeks

Residence of Mrs B Lynneberg, Ngaio

7851

28 October 1919

Rev. W. Rowe, Methodist

No	973
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Einar Ragnvald Lynneberg	Ethel Maud Wells
	💍 1919/8206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Ngaio
Length of Residence	23 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs B Lynneberg, Ngaio
Folio	7851
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Rowe, Methodist

974

28 October 1919

John Florence O'Donovan
Veronica May Mooney

John Florence O'Donovan
Veronica May Mooney
💍 1919/8217

Widower 12. 7. 1916
Spinster

Telegraph Clerk

35
23

Northland
Wellington

15 years
20 years

St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

7852

28 October 1919

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	974
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Florence O'Donovan	Veronica May Mooney
	💍 1919/8217
Condition	Widower 12. 7. 1916	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Clerk
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Northland	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	7852
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

975

29 October 1919

Thomas Gilbert Allen
Elizabeth Burns Rankin

Thomas Gilbert Allen
Elizabeth Burns Rankin
💍 1919/8223

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Wellington
Karori, Wellington

3 days
3 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori, Wellington

7853

29 October 1919

Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

No	975
Date of Notice	29 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gilbert Allen	Elizabeth Burns Rankin
	💍 1919/8223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori, Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori, Wellington
Folio	7853
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward, 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).