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 839

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. W. Hewitt

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

24 June 1919

Leonard James Rowell
Avis May Woods

Leonard James Rowell
Avis May Woods
💍 1919/3130

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank officer
Domestic Duties

26
24

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

2 1/2 years
4 years

Christ Church Taumarunui

3440

24 June 1919

Rev J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	24 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard James Rowell	Avis May Woods
	💍 1919/3130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank officer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Taumarunui
Folio	3440
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

22 July 1919 & 06 August 1919

Benjamin Boult
Ida Gertrude Murray

Benjamin Boult
Ida Gertrude Murray
💍 1919/6046

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
18

Matiere
Matiere

13 years
3 years

Registrar of Marriages Office Taumarunui

5473

no one in New Zealand

06 August 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Taumarunui

No	19
Date of Notice	22 July 1919 & 06 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Boult	Ida Gertrude Murray
	💍 1919/6046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	18
Dwelling Place	Matiere	Matiere
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar of Marriages Office Taumarunui
Folio	5473
Consent	no one in New Zealand
Date of Certificate	06 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Taumarunui

29 July 1919

Owen Alfred Weekes
Ethel Beatrice Harper

Owen Alfred Weekes
Ethel Beatrice Harper
💍 1919/6047

Widower 19-5-17
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
26

Teriraukawa
Okahukura

23 years
6 years

Private house occupied by William Lawrence Harper Okahukura

5474

29 July 1919

Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	29 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Alfred Weekes	Ethel Beatrice Harper
	💍 1919/6047
Condition	Widower 19-5-17	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Teriraukawa	Okahukura
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Private house occupied by William Lawrence Harper Okahukura
Folio	5474
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

04 August 1919

Hugh Thomson
Reine Winifred Hart

Hugh Thomson
Reine Winifred Hart
💍 1919/6048

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Waitress

28
20

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

7 years
5 years

Registrar of Marriages Taumarunui

5475

Arthur Victor Hart

04 August 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Taumarunui

No	21
Date of Notice	04 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Thomson	Reine Winifred Hart
	💍 1919/6048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Waitress
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar of Marriages Taumarunui
Folio	5475
Consent	Arthur Victor Hart
Date of Certificate	04 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Taumarunui

16 August 1919

Harvey Allen
Ethel Amy Robinson

Harvey Allen
Ethel Amy Robinson
💍 1919/6056

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

33
32

Taringamotu
Taumarunui

6 years
3 years

Methodist Church Taumarunui

5476

16 August 1919

Rev Hedley White, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	16 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harvey Allen	Ethel Amy Robinson
	💍 1919/6056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Taringamotu	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Taumarunui
Folio	5476
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Hedley White, Methodist

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).