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 813

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar F. Mitchell

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

6 January 1919

Edmond Havelock Kelly
Mary Flynn McLeod

Edmund Havelock Kelly
Mary Flynn McLeod
💍 1919/1067

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Waitress

23
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 months
8 months

St. Lukes Church of England Rotorua

996

6 January 1919

Rev. H. O. T. Hanby, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Havelock Kelly	Mary Flynn McLeod
BDM Match (98%)	Edmund Havelock Kelly	Mary Flynn McLeod
	💍 1919/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Waitress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church of England Rotorua
Folio	996
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. T. Hanby, Church of England

9 January 1919

Hayet Alley
Mary Williamson

Hayet Alley
Mary Williamson
💍 1919/1068

Bachelor
Widow 1916

Storekeeper
Domestic

30
34

Rotorua
Ngongotaha

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office Rotorua

997

9 January 1919

F. Mitchell, Deputy Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hayet Alley	Mary Williamson
	💍 1919/1068
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 1916
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	997
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Deputy Registrar

3 February 1919

Charles Victor McKenzie
Alma Pellen Lowe

Charles Victor McKenzie
Alma Ellen Lowe
💍 1919/1069

Widower 14-10-17
Spinster

Soldier
Clerk

38
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 months
4 months

St. Lukes Church of England Rotorua

998

3 February 1919

Rev. H. O. T. Hanby, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	3 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Victor McKenzie	Alma Pellen Lowe
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Victor McKenzie	Alma Ellen Lowe
	💍 1919/1069
Condition	Widower 14-10-17	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church of England Rotorua
Folio	998
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. T. Hanby, Church of England

4 February 1919

Edward Thomas Young
Nora New

Edward Thomas Young
Nora New
💍 1919/1070

Bachelor
Divorced 21/11/18

Bushman
Domestic

32
32

Mamaku
Mamaku

1 month
1 month

Registrar's Office Rotorua

999

4 February 1919

F. Mitchell, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Young	Nora New
	💍 1919/1070
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 21/11/18
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	999
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

4 February 1919

Edward Douglas
Marguerite MacPherson

Edward Douglas
Marguerita MacPherson
💍 1919/1071

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
20

Ngongotaha
Rotorua

26 years
20 years

St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

1000

John MacPherson Father

4 February 1919

Dean R. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Douglas	Marguerite MacPherson
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Douglas	Marguerita MacPherson
	💍 1919/1071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Ngongotaha	Rotorua
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	1000
Consent	John MacPherson Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Dean R. Lightheart, 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).