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 1868

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

636

2 August 1919

William Morris Robertson
Alma Helen Mason

William Morris Robertson
Alma Helen Mason
💍 1919/5411

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4726

David Mason, Father

2 August 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	636
Date of Notice	2 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morris Robertson	Alma Helen Mason
	💍 1919/5411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4726
Consent	David Mason, Father
Date of Certificate	2 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

637

2 August 1919

William Reid Douglas
Jeannie Ann Lily Maddison

William Reid Douglas
Jeannie Ann Lily Maddison
💍 1919/5435

Widower 5/11/1916
Spinster

Surveyor of ships

62
43

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
5 years

Unitarian Church Vivian Street Wellington

4693

2 August 1919

Rev. G. E. Hale

No	637
Date of Notice	2 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Reid Douglas	Jeannie Ann Lily Maddison
	💍 1919/5435
Condition	Widower 5/11/1916	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor of ships
Age	62	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church Vivian Street Wellington
Folio	4693
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale

638

2 August 1919

Louis Havill
Louie Elizabeth Wadley

Louis Havill
Louie Elizabeth Wadley
💍 1919/5437

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
5 years

Residence of Mrs. Cochrane Wades Street Wadestown

4694

2 August 1919

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie

No	638
Date of Notice	2 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Havill	Louie Elizabeth Wadley
	💍 1919/5437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Cochrane Wades Street Wadestown
Folio	4694
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie

639

4 August 1919

Robert Shelton
Mary Costello

Robert Shelton
Mary Costello
💍 1919/7032

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
12 months

St. Mary of the Angels Church Boulcott Street Wellington

6543

4 August 1919

Rev. S. Mahony

No	639
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Shelton	Mary Costello
	💍 1919/7032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church Boulcott Street Wellington
Folio	6543
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony

640

4 August 1919

Alexander Sasha Dombrovsky commonly known as Thompson
Nora Helena Reidy

Alexander Sasha Thompson
Nora Helena Reidy
💍 1919/5438

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

30
29

Wellington
Northland

2 months
2 weeks

St. Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

4695

4 August 1919

Rev. J. F. O'Connor

No	640
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Sasha Dombrovsky commonly known as Thompson	Nora Helena Reidy
BDM Match (73%)	Alexander Sasha Thompson	Nora Helena Reidy
	💍 1919/5438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Northland
Length of Residence	2 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	4695
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. O'Connor

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).