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 1774

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar R. P. Donellon

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

181

14 March 1919

Ludwig Stopper
Fanny Hullah

Ludwig Stopper
Fanny Hullah
💍 1919/1884

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef

49
35

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1665

14 March 1919

Dep. Registrar

No	181
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ludwig Stopper	Fanny Hullah
	💍 1919/1884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef
Age	49	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1665
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Dep. Registrar

182

14 March 1919

John Garner Wayne
Caroline Ann Rankin

John Garner Wayne
Caroline Ann Rankin
💍 1919/468

Widower 9/3/1918
Spinster

Instructor

32
30

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
2 years

The Residence of Mr S. Lovatt, 65 Overton Terrace, Hataitai

267

14 March 1919

Rev. S. Beckingham

No	182
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Garner Wayne	Caroline Ann Rankin
	💍 1919/468
Condition	Widower 9/3/1918	Spinster
Profession	Instructor
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr S. Lovatt, 65 Overton Terrace, Hataitai
Folio	267
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Beckingham

183

14 March 1919

Royden Charles Henderson
Margaret Catherine Mabel Collins

Royden Charles Henderson
Margaret Catherine Mabel Collins
💍 1919/469

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
34

Wellington
Wellington

Life
17 years

Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

268

14 March 1919

Rev. J. Dawson

No	183
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Royden Charles Henderson	Margaret Catherine Mabel Collins
	💍 1919/469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	17 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	268
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

184

14 March 1919

Robert Wright
Grace Helena Brennan

Robert Wright
Grace Helena Brennan
💍 1919/470

Widower 21/3/1917
Widow 6/11/1916

Inspector

48
34

Wellington
Wellington

11 weeks
9 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

269

14 March 1919

Rev. T. F. Taylor

No	184
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wright	Grace Helena Brennan
	💍 1919/470
Condition	Widower 21/3/1917	Widow 6/11/1916
Profession	Inspector
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 weeks	9 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	269
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor

185

15 March 1919

Tangiwai Kawenga
Hiritapu Clifford

Tangiwai Kawenga
Kiritapu Clifford
💍 1919/1885

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner's Machinist

20
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1666

Rare Kawenga, father

15 March 1919

Dep. Registrar

No	185
Date of Notice	15 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tangiwai Kawenga	Hiritapu Clifford
BDM Match (97%)	Tangiwai Kawenga	Kiritapu Clifford
	💍 1919/1885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner's Machinist
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1666
Consent	Rare Kawenga, father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Dep. Registrar

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).