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 1898

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

786

9 September 1919

Roughbert Henry James Cooper Thomson
Eliza Simmons

Rughbert Henry James Cooper Thomson
Eliza Simmons
💍 1919/4293

Widower (22 September 1913)
Widow (20 July 1918)

Steward

39
44

Island Bay, Wellington
Petone

2 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4875

9 September 1919

Registrar

No	786
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roughbert Henry James Cooper Thomson	Eliza Simmons
BDM Match (99%)	Rughbert Henry James Cooper Thomson	Eliza Simmons
	💍 1919/4293
Condition	Widower (22 September 1913)	Widow (20 July 1918)
Profession	Steward
Age	39	44
Dwelling Place	Island Bay, Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4875
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

787

9 September 1919

Reginald Arthur Copeland
Wilhelmina Monica Kruse

Reginald Arthur Copeland
Wilhelmina Monica Kruse
💍 1919/5571

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 months

The Catholic Presbytery, Patterson St., Wellington

4831

9 September 1919

Rev. D. H. Hurley

No	787
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Arthur Copeland	Wilhelmina Monica Kruse
	💍 1919/5571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	The Catholic Presbytery, Patterson St., Wellington
Folio	4831
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley

788

9 September 1919

Joseph Henry Williams
Grace Winifred Arnold

Joseph Henry Williams
Grace Winifred Arnold
💍 1919/5572

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

30
24

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

5 days
8 years

St James Church, Lower Hutt

4832

9 September 1919

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	788
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Williams	Grace Winifred Arnold
	💍 1919/5572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	4832
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

789

9 September 1919

Charles Henry Smith
Katherine O'Donoghue

Charles Henry Smith
Katherine O'Donoghue
💍 1919/5573

Widower (18 November 1918)
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

37
37

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
18 months

St Josephs Church, Buckle St, Wellington

4833

9 September 1919

Rev. D. H. Hurley

No	789
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Smith	Katherine O'Donoghue
	💍 1919/5573
Condition	Widower (18 November 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	18 months
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church, Buckle St, Wellington
Folio	4833
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley

790

10 September 1919

Philip Lucas Firth
Ada Mary Charlotte Johns

Philip Lucas Firth
Ada Mary Charlotte Johns
💍 1919/5574

Widower (17 March 1917)
Divorced Decree absolute 10/9/1919

Storekeeper

59
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
Life

Wesley Church, Taranaki St, Wellington

4834

10 September 1919

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	790
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Lucas Firth	Ada Mary Charlotte Johns
	💍 1919/5574
Condition	Widower (17 March 1917)	Divorced Decree absolute 10/9/1919
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	59	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki St, Wellington
Folio	4834
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

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).