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 913

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

10 April 1919

Joseph Yercoe
Frances Emily Sewell

Joseph Vercoe
Francess Emily Sewell
💍 1919/3207

Widower
Spinster

Railway Guard
Domestic Duties

60
38

Thames
Thames

5 weeks
25 years

Salvation Army Quarters Thames

3067

10 April 1919

Staff Capt S. Wallace, Salvation Army Officer

No	10
Date of Notice	10 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Yercoe	Frances Emily Sewell
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Vercoe	Francess Emily Sewell
	💍 1919/3207
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Domestic Duties
Age	60	38
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Quarters Thames
Folio	3067
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Staff Capt S. Wallace, Salvation Army Officer

12 April 1919

Stanley Douglas Trotter
Mary Emily Earnstine Newland

Stanley Douglas Trattin
Mary Emily Earnestine Newland
💍 1919/3208

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

20
20

Waiomo
Logun

19 years
20 years

Presbyterian Manse Rolleston St Thames

3068

Margaret Mary Williams (Mother), John B. George Newland

12 April 1919

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Douglas Trotter	Mary Emily Earnstine Newland
BDM Match (92%)	Stanley Douglas Trattin	Mary Emily Earnestine Newland
	💍 1919/3208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Waiomo	Logun
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Rolleston St Thames
Folio	3068
Consent	Margaret Mary Williams (Mother), John B. George Newland
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

15 April 1919

Charles William Thompson
Gertrude Elizabeth Fisher

Charles William Thompson
Gertrude Elizabeth Fisher
💍 1919/3210

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic Duties

26
20

Thames
Thames

3 days
11 years

Presbyterian Church Pollen St Thames

3069

D. Fisher, father

15 April 1919

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Thompson	Gertrude Elizabeth Fisher
	💍 1919/3210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Pollen St Thames
Folio	3069
Consent	D. Fisher, father
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

16 April 1919

Alexander Wyllie
Edith Beatrice Wallis

Alexander Wyllie
Edith Beatrice Wallis
💍 1919/3211

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
29

Waitakaruru
Pipiroa

2 years
4 years

In the house of Mr Wallis Pipiroa

3070

16 April 1919

F. B. Dobson, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wyllie	Edith Beatrice Wallis
	💍 1919/3211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	29
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Pipiroa
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Wallis Pipiroa
Folio	3070
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	F. B. Dobson, Church of England

22 April 1919

George Ernest Joseph Davis
Catherine Morrison

George Ernest Joseph Davis
Catherine Morrison
💍 1919/3212

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Nurse

34
32

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

5 days
30 years

St Marys Church Hikutaia

3071

22 April 1919

F. B. Dobson, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Joseph Davis	Catherine Morrison
	💍 1919/3212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Nurse
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	5 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church Hikutaia
Folio	3071
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	F. B. Dobson, Church of England

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).