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 1678

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

16 January 1919

David Reid
Emily Lydia Gunning

David Reid
Emily Lydia Dunning
💍 1919/1588

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Waitress

28
31

Wanganui
Wanganui

2 years
7 months

St John's Church of England Wanganui

1316

16 January 1919

H. W. Thomson, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Reid	Emily Lydia Gunning
BDM Match (97%)	David Reid	Emily Lydia Dunning
	💍 1919/1588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Waitress
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England Wanganui
Folio	1316
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	H. W. Thomson, Church of England

20 January 1919

Cecil Major Syme
Amy Young

Cecil Major Syme
Amy Young
💍 1919/1589

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

19
18

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 days
5 days

Residence of Mr L. E. Bridges Aramoho

1317

Stella Syme, Mother; John Young, Father

20 January 1919

H. Turner, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	20 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Major Syme	Amy Young
	💍 1919/1589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr L. E. Bridges Aramoho
Folio	1317
Consent	Stella Syme, Mother; John Young, Father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1919
Officiating Minister	H. Turner, Methodist

21 January 1919

Richard Stevens
Elizabeth Dorothy Pedley

Richard Stevens
Elizabeth Dorothy Pedley
💍 1919/1590

Bachelor
Spinster

Gasworks Trimmer
Domestic Duties

26
23

Wanganui
Mosstown Wanganui

3 years
23 years

Registrar's Office Wanganui

1318

21 January 1919

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	21 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Stevens	Elizabeth Dorothy Pedley
	💍 1919/1590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gasworks Trimmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Mosstown Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wanganui
Folio	1318
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

27 January 1919

John Porteous Rutherford
Barbara Annie Finlayson

John Porteous Rutherford
Barbara Annie Finlayson
💍 1919/1592

Bachelor
Spinster

Audit Inspector
School Teacher

31
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 years
20 years

St Paul's Presbyterian Church Wanganui

1319

27 January 1919

J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	27 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Porteous Rutherford	Barbara Annie Finlayson
	💍 1919/1592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Audit Inspector	School Teacher
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church Wanganui
Folio	1319
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1919
Officiating Minister	J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

27 January 1919

Robert Alexander Wallace Sutherland
Dorothy Agnes Ashwell

Robert Alexander Wallace Sutherland
Dorothy Agnes Ashwell
💍 1919/1593

Bachelor
Spinster

School Master
Home Duties

26
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

2 years
18 years

Residence of Mr J. J. Ashwell St John's Hill Wanganui

1320

27 January 1919

J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Wallace Sutherland	Dorothy Agnes Ashwell
	💍 1919/1593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Master	Home Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. J. Ashwell St John's Hill Wanganui
Folio	1320
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1919
Officiating Minister	J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

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).