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 745

District of Otorohanga Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar Jas Thorne

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

11 July 1919

Dougal Alexander Macdonald
Sarah Catherine Louise Blackett

Dougal Alexander Macdonald
Sarah Catherine Louise Blackett
💍 1919/6023

Bachelor
Spinster

Biograph operator
Domestic

33
19

Kio Kio
Kio Kio

7 months
13 years

Public Hall Kiokio

5449

William Edward Blackett Father

11 July 1919

Rev J D McFarlane

No	6
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dougal Alexander Macdonald	Sarah Catherine Louise Blackett
	💍 1919/6023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Biograph operator	Domestic
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Kio Kio	Kio Kio
Length of Residence	7 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall Kiokio
Folio	5449
Consent	William Edward Blackett Father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J D McFarlane

29 July 1919

Thomas Henry Harvey
Rubenia Margaret Albanie Hutt

Thomas Henry Harvey
Rubenia Margaret Albania Hutt
💍 1919/6101

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

33
23

Otorohanga
Teawamutu

4 months
16 years

Presbyterian Manse Teawamutu

5505

29 July 1919

Rev D. J. a Shaw

No	7
Date of Notice	29 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Harvey	Rubenia Margaret Albanie Hutt
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry Harvey	Rubenia Margaret Albania Hutt
	💍 1919/6101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Teawamutu
Length of Residence	4 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Teawamutu
Folio	5505
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D. J. a Shaw

16 September 1919

Morris Whittle
Mary Elizabeth Disher

Morris Whittle
Mary Elizabeth Disher
💍 1919/6024

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
23

Otorohanga
Maihiihi

1 year
10 years

Maihiihi Hall Maihiihi

5450

16 September 1919

Rev J. D. McFarlane

No	8
Date of Notice	16 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morris Whittle	Mary Elizabeth Disher
	💍 1919/6024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Maihiihi
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	Maihiihi Hall Maihiihi
Folio	5450
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. McFarlane

26 September 1919

Frederick William Closery
Joyce Ivy Claridge

Frederick William Closey
Joyce Ivy Claridge
💍 1919/6033

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Shop assistant

30
27

Otorohanga
Otorohanga

8 years
7 years

St Brides Anglican Church Otorohanga

5451

26 September 1919

Rev R. F. Geddes

No	9
Date of Notice	26 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Closery	Joyce Ivy Claridge
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Closey	Joyce Ivy Claridge
	💍 1919/6033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Shop assistant
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Brides Anglican Church Otorohanga
Folio	5451
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. F. Geddes

29 September 1919

Tom Campstone
Mary Agnes Colhoun

Tom Cumpstone
Mary Agnes Colhoun
💍 1919/6012

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
28

Kio Kio
Ngaruawahia

16 years
6 years

Church of England Ngaruawahia

5439

29 September 1919

C. F. R Harrison

No	10
Date of Notice	29 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Campstone	Mary Agnes Colhoun
BDM Match (96%)	Tom Cumpstone	Mary Agnes Colhoun
	💍 1919/6012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Kio Kio	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	16 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ngaruawahia
Folio	5439
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1919
Officiating Minister	C. F. R Harrison

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).