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 1742

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

17 January 1919

Jorgen Leslie Roy Nielsen
Ruth Louise Reeves

Jorgen Leslie Roy Nielsen
Ruth Louise Reeves
💍 1919/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

19
21

Wellington
Evan's Bay Wellington

2 years
16 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

121

Ellen Marie Nielsen Mother

17 January 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jorgen Leslie Roy Nielsen	Ruth Louise Reeves
	💍 1919/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Evan's Bay Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	121
Consent	Ellen Marie Nielsen Mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

17 January 1919

Hugh Mayne
Susan Dunstan

Hugh Mayne
Susan Dunstan
💍 1919/374

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 10 December 1918

Labourer

45
35

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
Life

Methodist Church Taranaki St Wellington

122

17 January 1919

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	27
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Mayne	Susan Dunstan
	💍 1919/374
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 10 December 1918
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Taranaki St Wellington
Folio	122
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

17 January 1919

Vincent Victor Barrows
Phoebe Smith

Vincent Victor Barrows
Phoebe Smitt
💍 1919/375

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
Life

Residence of Mr G. H. Smith 196 Hanson St Wellington

123

Charles Henry Smith Father

17 January 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	28
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vincent Victor Barrows	Phoebe Smith
BDM Match (96%)	Vincent Victor Barrows	Phoebe Smitt
	💍 1919/375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. H. Smith 196 Hanson St Wellington
Folio	123
Consent	Charles Henry Smith Father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

18 January 1919

Edward George Thomas Hughes
Julia Byrne

Edward George Thomas Hughes
Julia Byrne
💍 1919/376

Widower 30/11/1914
Spinster

Cook

36
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

St Anne's Church Newtown Wellington

124

18 January 1919

Rev. D. H. Campbell

No	29
Date of Notice	18 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Thomas Hughes	Julia Byrne
	💍 1919/376
Condition	Widower 30/11/1914	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	124
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Campbell

18 January 1919

Ralph William Jackson
Norah Allen O'Brien

Ralph William Jackson
Norah Allen O'Brien
💍 1919/377

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer

30
22

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
2 years

St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

125

18 January 1919

Rev. D. H. Hurley

No	30
Date of Notice	18 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph William Jackson	Norah Allen O'Brien
	💍 1919/377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	125
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley

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).