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 1590

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. 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

102

15 July 1919

Oliver Raymond Gordon
Marie Anna Fabrin

Oliver Raymond Gordon
Marie Anna Fabrin
💍 1919/6520

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

24
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 years
24 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

5951

15 July 1919

Rev G.S. Cook, Methodist

No	102
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Raymond Gordon	Marie Anna Fabrin
	💍 1919/6520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	5951
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G.S. Cook, Methodist

103

15 July 1919

David Watson
Emily Millicent Fuller

David Watson
Emily Millicent Fuller
💍 1919/6521

Widower
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

45
30

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 month

St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North

5952

15 July 1919

Rev J.F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

No	103
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Watson	Emily Millicent Fuller
	💍 1919/6521
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North
Folio	5952
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J.F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

104

17 July 1919

Frank Eldon Grinlinton
Harriett Ann Adamson

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Milliner

30
29

Eketahuna
Palmerston North

2 months
3 days

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

17 July 1919

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	104
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Eldon Grinlinton	Harriett Ann Adamson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Milliner
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Eketahuna	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

105

17 July 1919

Herbert Manners Grinstead
Ruth Excelsior Jarvis

Herbert Manners Gruistead
Ruth Excelsin Jarvis
💍 1919/6522

Bachelor
Spinster

Garageman
Domestic

22
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
2 years

Church of Christ Campbell Street Palmerston North

5953

17 July 1919

Mr Herbert Grinstead, Church of Christ

No	105
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Manners Grinstead	Ruth Excelsior Jarvis
BDM Match (91%)	Herbert Manners Gruistead	Ruth Excelsin Jarvis
	💍 1919/6522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garageman	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Campbell Street Palmerston North
Folio	5953
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr Herbert Grinstead, Church of Christ

106

19 July 1919

Harry Naylor
Violet Frances Langley

Harry Naylor
Violet Frances Langley
💍 1919/6523

Bachelor
Spinster

Horsebreaker
Domestic

31
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

5954

19 July 1919

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	106
Date of Notice	19 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Naylor	Violet Frances Langley
	💍 1919/6523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horsebreaker	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	5954
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1919
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, 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).