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 1882

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

706

19 August 1919

Charles Wyse
Ivy Hood

Charles Wyse
Ivy Hood
💍 1919/5501

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool-classer

37
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 Days
3 Days

Presbyterian Manse, 14 Hobson Street, Wellington

4784

19 August 1919

Rev. J. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	706
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Wyse	Ivy Hood
	💍 1919/5501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool-classer
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 14 Hobson Street, Wellington
Folio	4784
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Orr, Presbyterian

707

19 August 1919

Henry John Reid
Mabel Elizabeth Maud Fawcett

Henry John Reid
Mabel Elizabeth Maud Fawcett
💍 1919/5502

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

9 Days
23 Years

St Andrews Church, Wellington

4785

19 August 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	707
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Reid	Mabel Elizabeth Maud Fawcett
	💍 1919/5502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 Days	23 Years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Wellington
Folio	4785
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

708

19 August 1919

George Henry Adams
Ada Lillian Bolton (Lilian)

George Henry Adams
Ada Lilian Bolton
💍 1919/5503

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

20
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 Years
10 Years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

4786

John Henry Adams, Father

19 August 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	708
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Adams	Ada Lillian Bolton (Lilian)
BDM Match (82%)	George Henry Adams	Ada Lilian Bolton
	💍 1919/5503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 Years	10 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4786
Consent	John Henry Adams, Father
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

709

19 August 1919

George Ernest Oben
Mary Butler

George Ernest Oben
Mary Butler
💍 1919/7036

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

36
39

Wellington
Wellington

3 Days
10 Years

St Mary of the Angels Presbytery, Boulcott Street, Wellington

6516

19 August 1919

Rev. Father O'Hara, Roman Catholic

No	709
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Oben	Mary Butler
	💍 1919/7036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	36	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Days	10 Years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Presbytery, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	6516
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Hara, Roman Catholic

710

19 August 1919

Hugh McKerrow
Doris May Bertha Bird

Hugh McKerrow
Doris May Bertha Bird
💍 1919/5504

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Assistant

21
21

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

18 Months
15 Years

Methodist Church, Lower Hutt

4787

19 August 1919

Rev. D. J. Murray, Methodist

No	710
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McKerrow	Doris May Bertha Bird
	💍 1919/5504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Assistant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	18 Months	15 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	4787
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Murray, Methodist

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).