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 873

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar W. M. H. Diamond

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

Willie Douglas Black
Ellen Charlotte Steele

Willie Douglas Black
Ellen Charlotte Steele
💍 1919/1083

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

35
29

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Te Aroha

1013

6 January 1919

The Registrar, Te Aroha

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Douglas Black	Ellen Charlotte Steele
	💍 1919/1083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Te Aroha
Folio	1013
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Te Aroha

6 January 1919

John Munro
Elvina Violet Phillips

John Munro
Elvina Violet Phillips
💍 1919/1084

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

18
24

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

12 years
1 year

Residence of E. Wright, Rewi St, Te Aroha

1014

William Munro, Father

6 January 1919

Rev. C. O'Connor, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Munro	Elvina Violet Phillips
	💍 1919/1084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	18	24
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of E. Wright, Rewi St, Te Aroha
Folio	1014
Consent	William Munro, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Connor, Roman Catholic

9 January 1919

Leo George Richardson
Alice Lilian Bemrose

Leo George Richardson
Alice Lilian Bemrose
💍 1919/1085

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

29
23

Te Aroha
Manawaru

3 months
23 years

Residence of William Bemrose, Manawaru

1015

9 January 1919

Rev. J. Dukes, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo George Richardson	Alice Lilian Bemrose
	💍 1919/1085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Manawaru
Length of Residence	3 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Bemrose, Manawaru
Folio	1015
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dukes, Methodist

22 January 1919

William Cameron Goodger
Muriel Owens

William Cameron Goodger
Muriel Owens
💍 1919/1086

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

39
24

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church Te Aroha

1016

22 January 1919

Rev. A. A. Armstrong, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	22 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cameron Goodger	Muriel Owens
	💍 1919/1086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Te Aroha
Folio	1016
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Armstrong, Presbyterian

22 January 1919

Walter Doris McKenzie
Dorothy Flora Veronica Dennecker Thackray

Wallace Downie McKenzie
Dorothy Florence Veronica Dennehey Thackray
💍 1919/1087

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

20
19

Manawaru
Manawaru

3 years
19 years

Church of England Te Aroha

1017

Robert McKenzie, Father; Albert Thackray, Father

22 January 1919

Rev. G. H. Morse, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	22 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Doris McKenzie	Dorothy Flora Veronica Dennecker Thackray
BDM Match (77%)	Wallace Downie McKenzie	Dorothy Florence Veronica Dennehey Thackray
	💍 1919/1087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Manawaru	Manawaru
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Te Aroha
Folio	1017
Consent	Robert McKenzie, Father; Albert Thackray, Father
Date of Certificate	22 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Morse, Anglican

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).