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 957

District of Tolaga Bay Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar George Mortimer Colebrook

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

7 January 1919

Hikoirima Te Kuiha
Rangi Patuwai

Nikorima Te Miha
Rangi Patuwai
💍 1919/1168

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

18 years
18 years

Tolaga Bay
Tolaga Bay

3 years
6 months

Registrar's Office Tolaga Bay

1047

Tone Te Kaari, Guardian; Raatu Patuwai, Father, Guardian

7 January 1919

George Mortimer Colebrook, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hikoirima Te Kuiha	Rangi Patuwai
BDM Match (89%)	Nikorima Te Miha	Rangi Patuwai
	💍 1919/1168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	18 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay	Tolaga Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Tolaga Bay
Folio	1047
Consent	Tone Te Kaari, Guardian; Raatu Patuwai, Father, Guardian
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	George Mortimer Colebrook, Registrar

16 January 1919

Himiona Te Awamii
Hariata Te Waaru

Himiona Te Awanui
Hariata Te Waara
💍 1919/1169

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

60 years
45 years

Tolaga Bay
Tolaga Bay

45 years
35 years

Registrar's Office Tolaga Bay

1048

16 January 1919

George Mortimer Colebrook, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Himiona Te Awamii	Hariata Te Waaru
BDM Match (91%)	Himiona Te Awanui	Hariata Te Waara
	💍 1919/1169
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	60 years	45 years
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay	Tolaga Bay
Length of Residence	45 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Tolaga Bay
Folio	1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	George Mortimer Colebrook, Registrar

1 February 1919

Joseph Onion
Jane Hale

Joseph Onion
Jane Hale
💍 1919/1103

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35 years
31 years

Tolaga Bay
Tolaga Bay

14 years
31 years

Roman Catholic Church Tolaga Bay

1050

1 February 1919

Rev. Gerard Van Beeks

No	3
Date of Notice	1 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Onion	Jane Hale
	💍 1919/1103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay	Tolaga Bay
Length of Residence	14 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Tolaga Bay
Folio	1050
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gerard Van Beeks

1 February 1919

William McMillen
Mary Reidy

William McMillan
Mary Reidy
💍 1919/1025

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

54 years
38 years

Tolaga Bay
Gisborne

10 years
38 years

Presbyterian Church Gisborne

906

1 February 1919

Rev. James Aitken

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McMillen	Mary Reidy
BDM Match (97%)	William McMillan	Mary Reidy
	💍 1919/1025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	54 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	38 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Gisborne
Folio	906
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken

13 February 1919

Henry Arthur Findlay
Dora Evelyn Hurries

Henry Arthur Findlay
Dora Evelyn Harries
💍 1919/1170

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic Duties

28 years
23 years

Tolaga Bay
Tolaga Bay

3 years
5 years

St Andrews Church Tolaga Bay

1049

13 February 1919

Rev. Eccles Alexander McCutcheow

No	5
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Findlay	Dora Evelyn Hurries
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Arthur Findlay	Dora Evelyn Harries
	💍 1919/1170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay	Tolaga Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Tolaga Bay
Folio	1049
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Eccles Alexander McCutcheow

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).