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 1804

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

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

321

23 April 1919

Frederick John Dagger
Cecilia Hamilton Davis

Frederick John Dagger
Cecilia Hamilton Davis
💍 1919/44

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree Absolute 12/4/1919

Blacksmith

36
30

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
3 years

The Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

1809

23 April 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	321
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Dagger	Cecilia Hamilton Davis
	💍 1919/44
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree Absolute 12/4/1919
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	1809
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

322

23 April 1919

Edward Clarence Taylor
Sadie Irene Rose Morrow

Edward Clarence Taylor
Sadie Irene Rose Morrow
💍 1919/2479

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Painter

22
17

Wellington
Wellington

5 weeks
5 weeks

The Manse, 14 Hobson Street, Wellington

1810

Simon Alexander Morrow, father

23 April 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	322
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Clarence Taylor	Sadie Irene Rose Morrow
	💍 1919/2479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Painter
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	The Manse, 14 Hobson Street, Wellington
Folio	1810
Consent	Simon Alexander Morrow, father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr

323

23 April 1919

William Perham
Mary Teresa Hayes

William Perham
Mary Teresa Hayes
💍 1919/2480

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

1811

John Hayes, father

23 April 1919

Rev. J. L. Wignan

No	323
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Perham	Mary Teresa Hayes
	💍 1919/2480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	1811
Consent	John Hayes, father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Wignan

324

24 April 1919

Gilbert Comyn Caldwell
Elizabeth Joy Burns

Gilbert Coniyn Caldwell
Elizabeth Joy Burns
💍 1919/2481

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
24

Karori
Karori

Life
11 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

1812

24 April 1919

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	324
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Comyn Caldwell	Elizabeth Joy Burns
BDM Match (96%)	Gilbert Coniyn Caldwell	Elizabeth Joy Burns
	💍 1919/2481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	Life	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	1812
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

325

24 April 1919

Henry Lenhart
Martha Foden

Henry Lenhart
Martha Foden
💍 1919/2482

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser & Tobacconist

32
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
4 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

1813

24 April 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	325
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lenhart	Martha Foden
	💍 1919/2482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser & Tobacconist
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	1813
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 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).