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 819

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 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

3 July 1919

John William Harrison
Myrtle Fenlon

John William Harrison
Myrtle Fenton
💍 1919/6037

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

30
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

5463

3 July 1919

F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

No	29
Date of Notice	3 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Harrison	Myrtle Fenlon
BDM Match (96%)	John William Harrison	Myrtle Fenton
	💍 1919/6037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	5463
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

25 July 1919

Edmund Williams Gibson Smith
Mary Ethel Taylor

Edmund William Gibson Smith
Mary Ethel Taylor
💍 1919/6038

Widower (4 May 1916)
Spinster

Hotel proprietor
Hotel manageress

43
30

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 years
6 years

Church of England, Ohinemutu

5464

25 July 1919

Canon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Williams Gibson Smith	Mary Ethel Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	Edmund William Gibson Smith	Mary Ethel Taylor
	💍 1919/6038
Condition	Widower (4 May 1916)	Spinster
Profession	Hotel proprietor	Hotel manageress
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ohinemutu
Folio	5464
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Canon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

21 August 1919

Isaac Williamson
Ann McNeil Campbell

Isaac Williamson
Ann McNeal Campbell
💍 1919/6039

Bachelor
Widow 21 July 1917

Carpenter
Boarding house keeper

49
43

Rotorua
Rotorua

13 years
15 years

Brides Residence, Tutanekai St., Rotorua

5465

21 August 1919

D. Hird, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	21 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Williamson	Ann McNeil Campbell
BDM Match (97%)	Isaac Williamson	Ann McNeal Campbell
	💍 1919/6039
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 21 July 1917
Profession	Carpenter	Boarding house keeper
Age	49	43
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	13 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Brides Residence, Tutanekai St., Rotorua
Folio	5465
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1919
Officiating Minister	D. Hird, Presbyterian

22 August 1919

Frederick White
Muriel Ellen Fly

Frederick White
Muriel Allen Sly
💍 1919/6040

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Dressmaker

37
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

1 year
2 years

Church of England, Rotorua

5466

22 August 1919

Canon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	22 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick White	Muriel Ellen Fly
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick White	Muriel Allen Sly
	💍 1919/6040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Dressmaker
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	5466
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Canon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

2 September 1919

Harry Avard
Bessie Taylor

Harry Avard
Bessie Taylor
💍 1919/6041

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
32

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
2 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

5467

2 September 1919

F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

No	33
Date of Notice	2 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Avard	Bessie Taylor
	💍 1919/6041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	5467
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).