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 881

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar W. Hill 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

27 September 1919

Alfred Bossons
Francis Mary Byrne

Alfred Bossons
Frances Mary Byrne
💍 1919/6071

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

61
53

Herrienville
Te Aroha

30 years
6 weeks

Church of England, Te Aroha

5498

27 September 1919

Rev. H. L. Connolly, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	27 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Bossons	Francis Mary Byrne
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Bossons	Frances Mary Byrne
	💍 1919/6071
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	61	53
Dwelling Place	Herrienville	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	30 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	5498
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Connolly, Anglican

11 October 1919

Gordon McLean Wallace
Edna Grace Brownlee

Gordon McLean Wallace
Edna Grace Brownlee
💍 1919/8655

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

29
23

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

29 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha

8361

11 October 1919

Rev. A. A. Armstrong, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	11 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon McLean Wallace	Edna Grace Brownlee
	💍 1919/8655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	29 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha
Folio	8361
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Armstrong, Presbyterian

24 November 1919

Edwin Ward
Mary Elizabeth Evelyn Mackwood

Edwin Ward
Mary Elizabeth Evelyn Mackwood
💍 1919/8656

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
27

Manawaru
Te Aroha

12 years
15 years

Methodist Church, Te Aroha

8362

24 November 1919

Rev. H. E. Fordyce, Methodist

No	31
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Ward	Mary Elizabeth Evelyn Mackwood
	💍 1919/8656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Manawaru	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Te Aroha
Folio	8362
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Fordyce, Methodist

6 December 1919

Joseph Ann
Lesley Isabel Whatford

Joseph Orr
Lesley Isobel Whatford
💍 1919/8657

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
20

Gordon
Gordon

27 years
8 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

8363

Arthur Whatford, Father

6 December 1919

Rev. H. L. Connolly, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	6 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ann	Lesley Isabel Whatford
BDM Match (83%)	Joseph Orr	Lesley Isobel Whatford
	💍 1919/8657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Gordon	Gordon
Length of Residence	27 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	8363
Consent	Arthur Whatford, Father
Date of Certificate	6 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Connolly, Anglican

8 December 1919

George Arthur Waddell
Sylvia Evelina Browne

George Arthur Waddel
Sylvia Evelina Browne
💍 1919/8658

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Saleswoman

27
26

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha

8364

8 December 1919

Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Waddell	Sylvia Evelina Browne
BDM Match (98%)	George Arthur Waddel	Sylvia Evelina Browne
	💍 1919/8658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Saleswoman
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha
Folio	8364
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

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).