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 1902

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. C. Ensor

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

806

15 September 1919

Ralph John Ryland W Randall
Mary Elizabeth Amelia Brown

Ralph John Ryland McRandall
Mary Elizabeth Amelia Brown
💍 1919/7094

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
18

Newtown
Mount Pleasant

Life
6 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott St, Wellington

6557

Bridget Mary Brown, Mother

15 September 1919

Rev. R. Hoare

No	806
Date of Notice	15 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph John Ryland W Randall	Mary Elizabeth Amelia Brown
BDM Match (96%)	Ralph John Ryland McRandall	Mary Elizabeth Amelia Brown
	💍 1919/7094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Newtown	Mount Pleasant
Length of Residence	Life	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott St, Wellington
Folio	6557
Consent	Bridget Mary Brown, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hoare

807

15 September 1919

John Edward Creed
Jessie Kertland

John Edward Creed
Jessie Kertland
💍 1919/5559

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter & Paperhanger

30
26

Wellington
Roseneath

22 years
20 years

The Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

4843

15 September 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	807
Date of Notice	15 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Creed	Jessie Kertland
	💍 1919/5559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter & Paperhanger
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Roseneath
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4843
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

808

15 September 1919

Frank Mahoney
Elizabeth Mahoney

Frank Mahony
Elizabeth Mahoney
💍 1919/7095

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
30

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
6 days

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

6538

15 September 1919

Rev. F. J. Smyth

No	808
Date of Notice	15 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Mahoney	Elizabeth Mahoney
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Mahony	Elizabeth Mahoney
	💍 1919/7095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	6 days
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	6538
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Smyth

809

15 September 1919

Ronald Ian Reid
Florence Margaret Gow

Ronald Ian Reid
Florence Margaret Gow
💍 1919/7072

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock-Agent

25
24

Blenheim
Wellington

19 years
8 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, The Terrace, Wellington

6539

15 September 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	809
Date of Notice	15 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Ian Reid	Florence Margaret Gow
	💍 1919/7072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock-Agent
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	6539
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr

810

16 September 1919

Ira Valor Allan Dobbie
Ida Mary D'Ath

Ira Valor Allan Dobbie
Ida May D'Ath
💍 1919/7073

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
1 week

The Basilica, Hill St, Wellington

6560

Joseph Henry D'Ath, Father

16 September 1919

Rev. F. J. Smyth

No	810
Date of Notice	16 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ira Valor Allan Dobbie	Ida Mary D'Ath
BDM Match (96%)	Ira Valor Allan Dobbie	Ida May D'Ath
	💍 1919/7073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	1 week
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill St, Wellington
Folio	6560
Consent	Joseph Henry D'Ath, Father
Date of Certificate	16 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Smyth

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).