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 893

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. H. Johnston

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

08 October 1919

Nelson Valentine Middlebrook
Marion Elizabeth Crawford

Nelson Valentine Middlebrook
Marion Elizabeth Crawford
💍 1919/8664

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

25
26

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

17 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church Te Awamutu

8369

08 October 1919

Rev D J A Shaw, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	08 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Valentine Middlebrook	Marion Elizabeth Crawford
	💍 1919/8664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	17 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Te Awamutu
Folio	8369
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D J A Shaw, Presbyterian

11 October 1919

Kenneth William Kerr
Eileen Alice O'Brien

Kenneth William Kerr
Eileen Alice O'Brien
💍 1919/8665

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Domestic Duties

26
29

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

5 years
7 years

Private Sitting Room, Alpha Hotel Kihikihi

8370

11 October 1919

Rev C Jansen, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	11 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth William Kerr	Eileen Alice O'Brien
	💍 1919/8665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Domestic Duties
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Private Sitting Room, Alpha Hotel Kihikihi
Folio	8370
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev C Jansen, Roman Catholic

28 October 1919

James Comrie
Florence Elsie Signal

James Comrie
Florence Elsie Signal
💍 1919/8666

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Te Mawhai
Te Mawhai

3 days
5 weeks

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Te Awamutu

8371

28 October 1919

Rev D J A Shaw, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Comrie	Florence Elsie Signal
	💍 1919/8666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Te Mawhai	Te Mawhai
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Te Awamutu
Folio	8371
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D J A Shaw, Presbyterian

05 November 1919

Septimus James Edgar Closey
Amy Finch

Septimus James Edgar Closey
Amy Finch
💍 1919/8667

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

27
22

Paterangi
Paterangi

3 days
22 years

Residence of Mr G Finch Paterangi

8372

05 November 1919

Rev F Carew Thomas, Anglican

No	25
Date of Notice	05 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Septimus James Edgar Closey	Amy Finch
	💍 1919/8667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Paterangi	Paterangi
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G Finch Paterangi
Folio	8372
Consent
Date of Certificate	05 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F Carew Thomas, Anglican

20 December 1919

John Thomas
Agnes Mary Lodge

John Thomas
Agnes Mary Lodge
💍 1919/8668

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
21

Harepepe
Harepepe

7 months
5 months

Registrar's Office Te Awamutu

8373

20 December 1919

R. Martin, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	26
Date of Notice	20 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas	Agnes Mary Lodge
	💍 1919/8668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Harepepe	Harepepe
Length of Residence	7 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Te Awamutu
Folio	8373
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Martin, Deputy 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).