Intentions to Marry, 1919 Herekino to Wairewa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840482, 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.

1919b contains pages 501-1004, covering districts from Herekino to Wairewa

Page 555

District of Kaitaia Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. O. Bakeman

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

9 October 1919

Charles Peterson
Florence Panther

Charles Peterson
Florence Panther
💍 1919/8581

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic Duties

24
23

Kaitaia
Victoria Valley

3 years
Life

Brides Parents Residence

8262

9 October 1919

Rev A Drake, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	9 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Peterson	Florence Panther
	💍 1919/8581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Victoria Valley
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Brides Parents Residence
Folio	8262
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Drake, Church of England

24 October 1919

Edward Thomas Waring
Janet Muriel Jackson

Edward Thomas Waring
Janet Muriel Jackson
💍 1919/8582

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
19

Awanui
Awanui

6 months
3 months Awanui

John Marshall's Private Residence

8263

Jane Hempel, mother

25 October 1919

Rev A Drake, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Waring	Janet Muriel Jackson
	💍 1919/8582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Awanui	Awanui
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months Awanui
Marriage Place	John Marshall's Private Residence
Folio	8263
Consent	Jane Hempel, mother
Date of Certificate	25 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Drake, Church of England

28 October 1919

Frederick Braithwaite
Alma Ethel Edwards

Frederick Braithwaite
Alma Ethel Edwards
💍 1919/8583

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
20

Victoria Valley
Victoria Valley

8 months
20 years Victoria Valley

J D Edwards Private Residence, Victoria Valley

8264

Jefferson Davis Edwards, Father

28 October 1919

Rev A Drake, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Braithwaite	Alma Ethel Edwards
	💍 1919/8583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Victoria Valley	Victoria Valley
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years Victoria Valley
Marriage Place	J D Edwards Private Residence, Victoria Valley
Folio	8264
Consent	Jefferson Davis Edwards, Father
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Drake, Church of England

2 December 1919

William Marsh
Clara Winifred Matthews

William Marsh
Clare Winifred Matthews
💍 1919/8584

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

31
22

Kaitaia
Kaitaia

6 months
Life Kaitaia

Church of England, Kaitaia

8265

2 December 1919

Rev A Drake, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	2 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marsh	Clara Winifred Matthews
BDM Match (98%)	William Marsh	Clare Winifred Matthews
	💍 1919/8584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Kaitaia
Length of Residence	6 months	Life Kaitaia
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kaitaia
Folio	8265
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Drake, Church of England

3 December 1919

Henry Anderson
Meri Etana Kaka

Henry Anderson
Meri Etana Heka
💍 1919/8585

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

19
18

Awanui
Awanui

3 years
2 years

Church of England, Kaitaia

8266

Andrew Anderson, Father; Etana Kaka, Father

3 December 1919

Rev A Drake, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	3 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Anderson	Meri Etana Kaka
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Anderson	Meri Etana Heka
	💍 1919/8585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Awanui	Awanui
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kaitaia
Folio	8266
Consent	Andrew Anderson, Father; Etana Kaka, Father
Date of Certificate	3 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Drake, 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).