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 1604

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. S. Worth

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

164

23 October 1919

Eric Lionel Julian
Meryl Desma Hope Taylor

Eric Lionel Julian
Meryl Desma Hope Taylor
💍 1919/9139

Widower
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

28
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
6 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Manse Church Street Palmerston North

8825

23 October 1919

Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	164
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Lionel Julian	Meryl Desma Hope Taylor
	💍 1919/9139
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Manse Church Street Palmerston North
Folio	8825
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

165

23 October 1919

Stanley Richard Leopold Deason
Dorothy Rosaleen Turner

Stanley Richard Leopold Denson
Dorothy Rosaleen Turner
💍 1919/9072

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Tailoress

22
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

21 years
10 years

St. Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

8826

23 October 1919

Rev. G. S. Cook, Methodist

No	165
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Richard Leopold Deason	Dorothy Rosaleen Turner
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Richard Leopold Denson	Dorothy Rosaleen Turner
	💍 1919/9072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Tailoress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	8826
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook, Methodist

166

23 October 1919

Ronald Stuart McDonald
Emily May Ellery

Ronald Stuart McDonald
Emily May Ellery
💍 1919/9083

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic

24
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
10 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Manse Church Street Palmerston North

8827

23 October 1919

Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	166
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Stuart McDonald	Emily May Ellery
	💍 1919/9083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Manse Church Street Palmerston North
Folio	8827
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

167

23 October 1919

Albert Morris Zeinert
Marjorie Mary Macdonald

Albert Morris Zeinert
Marjorie Mary Macdonald
💍 1919/9090

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

26
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

21 years
2 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

8828

23 October 1919

Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	167
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Morris Zeinert	Marjorie Mary Macdonald
	💍 1919/9090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	8828
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

168

25 October 1919

Reginald Nathaniel Ball
Margaret Julia Bassett

Reginald Nathaniel Ball
Margaret Julia Bassett
💍 1919/9091

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

28
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
4 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

8829

25 October 1919

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	168
Date of Notice	25 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Nathaniel Ball	Margaret Julia Bassett
	💍 1919/9091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	8829
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

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).