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 1634

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. A. Bayliffe

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

12 May 1919

James William Hunter
Myra Clarice Gibbs

James William Hunter
Myra Clarke Gibbs
💍 1919/3657

Widower
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

35
32

Marton
Marton

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Marton

3592

12 May 1919

Rev. L. H. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	12 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Hunter	Myra Clarice Gibbs
BDM Match (94%)	James William Hunter	Myra Clarke Gibbs
	💍 1919/3657
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Marton
Folio	3592
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. H. Hunt, Presbyterian

17 May 1919

James Richard Marshall
Ruby May Symonds

James Richard Marshall
Ruby May Symonds
💍 1919/3659

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

40
20

Marton
Marton

1 week
2 months

Presbyterian House, Marton

3593

Robert Whicker Symonds, Father

17 May 1919

Rev. L. H. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	17 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richard Marshall	Ruby May Symonds
	💍 1919/3659
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	40	20
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	1 week	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian House, Marton
Folio	3593
Consent	Robert Whicker Symonds, Father
Date of Certificate	17 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. H. Hunt, Presbyterian

28 May 1919

Louis Neill Northover
Mabel Jessie Henderson

Louis Neill Northover
Mabel Jessie Henderson
💍 1919/3660

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

33
30

Marton
Marton

Life
Life

Church of England, Marton

3594

28 May 1919

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Neill Northover	Mabel Jessie Henderson
	💍 1919/3660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	3594
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

5 June 1919

Walter Hainsworth
Mary Denford

Walter Hainsworth
Mary Jane Denford
💍 1919/1394

Bachelor
Widow

Brickmaker
Domestic Duties

43
43

Marton Junction
Napier

5 months
6 months

St Augustine's Church, Napier

3295

5 June 1919

Rev. John Hobbs, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	5 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hainsworth	Mary Denford
BDM Match (85%)	Walter Hainsworth	Mary Jane Denford
	💍 1919/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Brickmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	43	43
Dwelling Place	Marton Junction	Napier
Length of Residence	5 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3295
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hobbs, Church of England

24 June 1919

Charles Edward McDowall
Una Muriel Laing

Charles Edward McDowatt
Una Muriel Laing
💍 1919/3661

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
22

Marton
Marton Junction

3 days
2 years

Church of England, Marton

3595

24 June 1919

Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	24 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward McDowall	Una Muriel Laing
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Edward McDowatt	Una Muriel Laing
	💍 1919/3661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Marton	Marton Junction
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marton
Folio	3595
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. H. Kitcat, Church of England

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).