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 1582

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

26 May 1919

Leslie George Oliver
Jessie Ogilvie Swan

Leslie George Oliver
Jessie Ogilvie Swan
💍 1919/3596

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

26
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
4 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

3556

26 May 1919

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	26 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie George Oliver	Jessie Ogilvie Swan
	💍 1919/3596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	3556
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

27 May 1919

George Thomson
Bertha Jane Oliver

George Thomson
Bertha Jane Oliver
💍 1919/3597

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

35
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
5 months

Residence of Mr J. Oliver 33 Limbrick Street Palmerston North

3557

27 May 1919

Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	70
Date of Notice	27 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomson	Bertha Jane Oliver
	💍 1919/3597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Oliver 33 Limbrick Street Palmerston North
Folio	3557
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

28 May 1919

Thomas Howell Beals
Marie Louise Masemann

Thomas Howell Beals
Marie Louise Masemann
💍 1919/3574

Widower
Divorced

Railway guard
Domestic

33
30

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
6 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

3558

28 May 1919

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	71
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Howell Beals	Marie Louise Masemann
	💍 1919/3574
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Railway guard	Domestic
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	3558
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

29 May 1919

John Robb
Lelia Margaret Symons

John Robb
Lelia Margaret Symons
💍 1919/43

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

34
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
4 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

3559

29 May 1919

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	72
Date of Notice	29 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robb	Lelia Margaret Symons
	💍 1919/43
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	3559
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

29 May 1919

Frederick Setter
Myra Annie Osten

Frederick Setter
Myra Annie Osten
💍 1919/3576

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

35
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

35 years
16 years

St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North

3560

Annie Priscilla McKay, Mother

29 May 1919

Rev J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

No	73
Date of Notice	29 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Setter	Myra Annie Osten
	💍 1919/3576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	35 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North
Folio	3560
Consent	Annie Priscilla McKay, Mother
Date of Certificate	29 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

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).