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 1892

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

756

30 August 1919

James William White
Rosa Mary Mitchell

James William White
Rosa Mary Mitchell
💍 1919/5481

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
33

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
5 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle St. Wellington

4813

30 August 1919

Rev. D. X. Hurley

No	756
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William White	Rosa Mary Mitchell
	💍 1919/5481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle St. Wellington
Folio	4813
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. X. Hurley

757

30 August 1919

Francis William Ward
Marie Caterer

Francis William Ward
Marie Caterer
💍 1919/9746

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
9 years

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington South

9540

30 August 1919

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	757
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Ward	Marie Caterer
	💍 1919/9746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington South
Folio	9540
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

758

30 August 1919

Te Rauawa Wineera
Gertrude Victoria Naylor

Kanawa Iti Neera
Gertrude Victoria Naylor
💍 1919/7071

Bachelor
Widow 11/2/1917

Labourer

33
25

Porirua
Porirua

33 years
6 months

Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Porirua

6550

30 August 1919

Rev. N. Lambert

No	758
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Te Rauawa Wineera	Gertrude Victoria Naylor
BDM Match (74%)	Kanawa Iti Neera	Gertrude Victoria Naylor
	💍 1919/7071
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 11/2/1917
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	33 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Porirua
Folio	6550
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Lambert

759

30 August 1919

Stanley William Trew
Margaret Daisy Waterhouse

Stanley William Frew
Margaret Daisy Waterhouse
💍 1919/4284

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

21
25

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
19 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4867

30 August 1919

Registrar

No	759
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley William Trew	Margaret Daisy Waterhouse
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley William Frew	Margaret Daisy Waterhouse
	💍 1919/4284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4867
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

760

30 August 1919

George Henry Symons
Margaret May Rose Schwasz

George Henry Symons
Margaret May Rose Schwass
💍 1919/5482

Widower 17/6/14
Widow 24/11/1918

Bootmaker

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
4 years

5 Belvedere Road Hataitai Wellington

4816

30 August 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	760
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Symons	Margaret May Rose Schwasz
BDM Match (98%)	George Henry Symons	Margaret May Rose Schwass
	💍 1919/5482
Condition	Widower 17/6/14	Widow 24/11/1918
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	5 Belvedere Road Hataitai Wellington
Folio	4816
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).