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 1572

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 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

24 March 1919

James Denis Walshe
Florence Phoebe Topp

James Denis Walshe
Florence Phoebe Topp
💍 1919/1536

Widower
Spinster

Civil Servant
Nurse

34
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 weeks
4 days

St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North

1289

24 March 1919

Rev J. F. MacManus Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Denis Walshe	Florence Phoebe Topp
	💍 1919/1536
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Nurse
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North
Folio	1289
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. MacManus Roman Catholic

25 March 1919

Robert Aldo Rasmussen
Olive Irene Taylor

Robert Aldo Rasmussen
Olive Irene Taylor
💍 1919/1537

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Cadet
Clerk

20
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 months
7 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

1290

No one in New Zealand to give consent

Not yet issued waiting 14 days

Rev. F. W. Boyes Presbyterian (married 14-4-19)

No	27
Date of Notice	25 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Aldo Rasmussen	Olive Irene Taylor
	💍 1919/1537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Cadet	Clerk
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	1290
Consent	No one in New Zealand to give consent
Date of Certificate	Not yet issued waiting 14 days
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Boyes Presbyterian (married 14-4-19)

28 March 1919

Thomas William Eaton
Irene Bacon

Thomas William Eaton
Irene Bacon
💍 1919/1538

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

1291

28 March 1919

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	28 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Eaton	Irene Bacon
	💍 1919/1538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	1291
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

28 March 1919

Harcourt James Mitchinson
Jessie Stone

Harcourt James Mitchinson
Jessie Stone
💍 1919/1539

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic

25
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 years
14 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

1292

28 March 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	28 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harcourt James Mitchinson	Jessie Stone
	💍 1919/1539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 years	14 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	1292
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

29 March 1919

Hugh Charles Jenkins
Olive Myrtle Ellen Martin

Hugh Charles Jenkins
Olive Myrtle Ellen Martin
💍 1919/1540

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

28
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 days
10 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

1293

29 March 1919

Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	29 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Charles Jenkins	Olive Myrtle Ellen Martin
	💍 1919/1540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	1293
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull 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).