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 821

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 October 1919

Lorenzo Adams
Muriel Graham

Lorenzo Adams
Muriel Graham
💍 1919/9787

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

27
17

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 months
3 months

Residence of H. S. Fraser, Tutanekai Street, Rotorua

2557

James Henry Graham Father

1 October 1919

Rev. H. J. Leak, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lorenzo Adams	Muriel Graham
	💍 1919/9787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of H. S. Fraser, Tutanekai Street, Rotorua
Folio	2557
Consent	James Henry Graham Father
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Leak, Methodist

21 October 1919

John William King
Alice Beatrice Shortland

John William King
Alice Beatrice Shortland
💍 1919/8693

Bachelor
Divorced 20 October 1919

Farmer
Domestic

38
40

Rotorua
Rotorua

9 months
1 week

Registrars Office Rotorua

8327

21 October 1919

F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

No	40
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William King	Alice Beatrice Shortland
	💍 1919/8693
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 20 October 1919
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	9 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Rotorua
Folio	8327
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

22 October 1919

William Henry Feveral
Florence Emily Rickard

William Henry Pevreal
Florence Emily Rickard
💍 1919/8694

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

42
27

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 months
2 weeks

Registrars Office Rotorua

8328

22 October 1919

F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

No	41
Date of Notice	22 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Feveral	Florence Emily Rickard
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry Pevreal	Florence Emily Rickard
	💍 1919/8694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	42	27
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Rotorua
Folio	8328
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

28 October 1919

Harold Cornelius Garran
Margaret Hartneady

Harold Cornelius Garvan
Margaret Hartneady
💍 1919/8695

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

29
26

Mamaku
Mamaku

3 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church Rotorua

8329

28 October 1919

Dean W. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	42
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Cornelius Garran	Margaret Hartneady
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Cornelius Garvan	Margaret Hartneady
	💍 1919/8695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rotorua
Folio	8329
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Dean W. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

30 October 1919

Rapana Pirimona
Nora Whiripo

Rapana Pirimona
Nora Whiripo
💍 1919/5248

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
19

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 weeks
18 years

Registrars Office Rotorua

8330

Whiripo Enua te Puni Father

30 October 1919

F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

No	43
Date of Notice	30 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rapana Pirimona	Nora Whiripo
	💍 1919/5248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 weeks	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Rotorua
Folio	8330
Consent	Whiripo Enua te Puni Father
Date of Certificate	30 October 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar of marriages

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).