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 1782

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar R. G. 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

221

25 March 1919

Richard Coxon
Laura Louisa Dalley

Richard Coxon
Laura Louisa Dalley
💍 1919/523

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 17/12/1914

Bootmaker

43
24

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
16 years

St James's Manse, Wellington South

296

25 March 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	221
Date of Notice	25 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Coxon	Laura Louisa Dalley
	💍 1919/523
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 17/12/1914
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	43	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St James's Manse, Wellington South
Folio	296
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

222

25 March 1919

Charles Riley
Mary Winifred Carrick

Charles Riley
Mary Winifred Carrick
💍 1919/524

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

32
26

S.S. Komata
Wellington

1 year
3 years

St Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington

297

25 March 1919

Rev. M. Devoy

No	222
Date of Notice	25 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Riley	Mary Winifred Carrick
	💍 1919/524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	S.S. Komata	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	297
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy

223

26 March 1919

John Robinson
Emily Wilde

John Robinson
Emily Wilde
💍 1919/525

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

24
22

Eastbourne
Eastbourne

1 year
9 months

St Albans Church, Eastbourne

298

26 March 1919

Rev. V. H. Stent

No	223
Date of Notice	26 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robinson	Emily Wilde
	💍 1919/525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Eastbourne	Eastbourne
Length of Residence	1 year	9 months
Marriage Place	St Albans Church, Eastbourne
Folio	298
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Stent

224

26 March 1919

Samuel Laming Shepherd
Margaret Sullivan

Samuel Laming Shepherd
Margaret Sullivan
💍 1919/526

Divorced Decree Absolute 16/4/18
Spinster

Labourer

43
25

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
12 years

St Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington

299

26 March 1919

Rev. J. Gibb

No	224
Date of Notice	26 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Laming Shepherd	Margaret Sullivan
	💍 1919/526
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 16/4/18	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	299
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

225

26 March 1919

Frederick Theodore Ukely
Barbara Grace Ukely

Frederick Theodore Okeby
Barbara Grace Okeby
💍 1919/527

Previously married 18th July 1917
Previously married 18 July 1917

Engineer

28
24

Petone
Petone

4 years
Life

Anglican Church, Petone

300

26 March 1919

Rev. J. F. Taylor

No	225
Date of Notice	26 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Theodore Ukely	Barbara Grace Ukely
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Theodore Okeby	Barbara Grace Okeby
	💍 1919/527
Condition	Previously married 18th July 1917	Previously married 18 July 1917
Profession	Engineer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Petone
Folio	300
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Taylor

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).