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 1856

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. A. Poulton

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

576

16 July 1919

Edgar Howe Taylor
Cornelia Rose

Edgar Howes Taylor
Cornelia Rose
💍 1919/4274

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 13 February 1919

Farmer

38
42

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4707

16 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	576
Date of Notice	16 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Howe Taylor	Cornelia Rose
BDM Match (97%)	Edgar Howes Taylor	Cornelia Rose
	💍 1919/4274
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 13 February 1919
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	42
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4707
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

577

16 July 1919

John Henry Wakefield Cooper
Catherine Maude Lawrence

John Henry Wakefield Cooper
Catherine Maude Lawrence
💍 1919/4275

Widower 8 December 1917
Divorced decree absolute 26 June 1919

Carpenter

36
36

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4708

16 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	577
Date of Notice	16 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Wakefield Cooper	Catherine Maude Lawrence
	💍 1919/4275
Condition	Widower 8 December 1917	Divorced decree absolute 26 June 1919
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4708
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

578

16 July 1919

Walter William Jonassen
Lilian Josephine Williams

Walter William Jonasen
Lilian Josephine Williams
💍 1919/5370

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 months

Residence of Mr. J. H. Williams, 86 Elizabeth Street, Wellington

4654

30 July 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	578
Date of Notice	16 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Jonassen	Lilian Josephine Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Walter William Jonasen	Lilian Josephine Williams
	💍 1919/5370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Williams, 86 Elizabeth Street, Wellington
Folio	4654
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

579

17 July 1919

Patrick McInerney
Nora O'Halloran

Patrick McInerney
Nora O'Halloran
💍 1919/5371

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

36
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 weeks
5 years

St. Mary of the Angels School Room, Boulcott Street, Wellington

4655

17 July 1919

Rev. R. J. Hoare

No	579
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McInerney	Nora O'Halloran
	💍 1919/5371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels School Room, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	4655
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare

580

17 July 1919

Benjamin Moore
Jane Ibbs

Benjamin Moore
Jane Ibbs
💍 1919/5372

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
6 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

4656

17 July 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	580
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Moore	Jane Ibbs
	💍 1919/5372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	4656
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

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).