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 1806

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. G. Donlon

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

331

28 April 1919

Harold Herbert Charles Andrew Parkinson
Vera Bennett

Harold Herbert Charles Andrew Parkinson
Vera Bennett
💍 1919/2488

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer

33
34

Petone
Petone

18 years
30 years

St Davids Presbyterian Church Petone

1819

28 April 1919

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	331
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Herbert Charles Andrew Parkinson	Vera Bennett
	💍 1919/2488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	18 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Davids Presbyterian Church Petone
Folio	1819
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

332

28 April 1919

William George Revell
Norah Elizabeth Staveley

William George Revell
Norah Elizabeth Staveley
💍 1919/2490

Bachelor
Widow 16/4/1918

Sawmill Hand

42
39

Karapoti
Karapoti

10 months
6 months

Residence of Mrs Carmichael Karapoti Upper Hutt

1820

28 April 1919

Rev. A. W. Stratford

No	332
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Revell	Norah Elizabeth Staveley
	💍 1919/2490
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 16/4/1918
Profession	Sawmill Hand
Age	42	39
Dwelling Place	Karapoti	Karapoti
Length of Residence	10 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Carmichael Karapoti Upper Hutt
Folio	1820
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Stratford

333

28 April 1919

James O'Meara
Doris Hilda Staples

James O'Meara
Doris Hilda Staples
💍 1919/2491

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

22
21

Wellington
Karori Wellington

22 years
Life

St Mary's Church Karori

1821

28 April 1919

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	333
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Meara	Doris Hilda Staples
	💍 1919/2491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Karori
Folio	1821
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

334

28 April 1919

Alfred James French
Emily Mary Buckley

Alfred James French
Emily Mary Buckley
💍 1919/2492

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

50
52

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
11 months

St Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

1822

28 April 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	334
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James French	Emily Mary Buckley
	💍 1919/2492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	50	52
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	11 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	1822
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

335

28 April 1919

William Dysart
Ellen Mary Josephine Swift

William Dysart
Ellen Mary Josephine Swift
💍 1919/2493

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

34
39

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
20 years

The Basilica Hill Street Wellington

1823

28 April 1919

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	335
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dysart	Ellen Mary Josephine Swift
	💍 1919/2493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	34	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	1823
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

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).