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 1926

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

911

11 October 1919

Cyril Leonard Dawe
Ellen Faul

Cyril Leonard Dawe
Ellen Faul
💍 1919/4557

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
8 months

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

7794

11 October 1919

Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	911
Date of Notice	11 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Leonard Dawe	Ellen Faul
	💍 1919/4557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	8 months
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	7794
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

912

11 October 1919

Harold Lionel Whiteman
Evelyn Gertrude Doreen Richards

Harold Lionel Whiteman
Evelyn Gertrude Doreen Richards
💍 1919/4558

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington

7795

11 October 1919

Rev. Dr. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	912
Date of Notice	11 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Lionel Whiteman	Evelyn Gertrude Doreen Richards
	💍 1919/4558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	7795
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Gibb, Presbyterian

913

11 October 1919

Harry Cathcart Howard
Maud Alice Hoy

Henry Cathcart Howard
Maud Alice Hoy
💍 1919/4559

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

34
33

Kelburn
Newtown

14 years
13 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

7796

11 October 1919

Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

No	913
Date of Notice	11 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Cathcart Howard	Maud Alice Hoy
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Cathcart Howard	Maud Alice Hoy
	💍 1919/4559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Kelburn	Newtown
Length of Residence	14 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	7796
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

914

13 October 1919

John Smith
Amy Louisa Haines

John Smith
Amy Lousia Haines
💍 1919/4560

Divorced Decree Absolute 8/10/1919
Spinster

Painter

42
32

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7797

13 October 1919

Registrar's Office, Wellington

No	914
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Amy Louisa Haines
BDM Match (94%)	John Smith	Amy Lousia Haines
	💍 1919/4560
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 8/10/1919	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7797
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar's Office, Wellington

915

13 October 1919

Leonard Thomas Russell
Emma Teresa McNabb

Leonard Thomas Russell
Emma Teresa McNabb
💍 1919/4561

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
23

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

25 years
14 years

Residence of Mrs M. McNabb, Pine Avenue, Upper Hutt

7798

13 October 1919

Mr. A. Climie, Presbyterian

No	915
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Thomas Russell	Emma Teresa McNabb
	💍 1919/4561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	25 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs M. McNabb, Pine Avenue, Upper Hutt
Folio	7798
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. Climie, Presbyterian

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).