Intentions to Marry, 1919 Whakatane to Mangaweka

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840483, 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.

1919c contains pages 1005-1502, covering districts from Whakatane to Mangaweka

Page 1023

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar Frank Bird

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

01 October 1919

Frederick William Campbell
Julia Isabella Stephens

Frederick William Campbell
Julia Isabella Shepherd
💍 1919/7063

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

41
20

Whangarei
Parua Bay

1 month
3 months

The manse the dwelling Rev G W Lochore Whangarei

6599

William Edward Stephens

01 October 1919

Rev G. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	01 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Campbell	Julia Isabella Stephens
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick William Campbell	Julia Isabella Shepherd
	💍 1919/7063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	41	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Parua Bay
Length of Residence	1 month	3 months
Marriage Place	The manse the dwelling Rev G W Lochore Whangarei
Folio	6599
Consent	William Edward Stephens
Date of Certificate	01 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Lochore, Presbyterian

06 October 1919

Alfred Arnold Thorpe
Mary Ann Christina West

Alfred Arnold Thorpe
Mary Ann Christina West
💍 1919/8770

Bachelor
Widow 12-4-16

Labourer
Domestic

32
39

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Church of England Whangarei

8432

06 October 1919

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England Minister

No	37
Date of Notice	06 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Arnold Thorpe	Mary Ann Christina West
	💍 1919/8770
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 12-4-16
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	39
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	8432
Consent
Date of Certificate	06 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England Minister

13 October 1919

Emanuel Francis Abraham
Ellen Alice Andrews

Emmanuel Francis Abraham
Ellen Alice Andrews
💍 1919/9851

Widower 8/3/16
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
24

Kamo
Kamo

3 years
10 years

Residence of Mrs Jas Andrews, Kamo

8433

13 October 1919

Rev. J.R. Clark, Methodist Minister

No	38
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emanuel Francis Abraham	Ellen Alice Andrews
BDM Match (98%)	Emmanuel Francis Abraham	Ellen Alice Andrews
	💍 1919/9851
Condition	Widower 8/3/16	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jas Andrews, Kamo
Folio	8433
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.R. Clark, Methodist Minister

13 October 1919

Sydney Herbert Barns-Wilson
Margaret Hoy

Sydney Herbert Carns-Wilson
Margaret Hoy
💍 1919/8771

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

36
30

Ruatangata
Ruatangata

6 months
4 weeks

Registrar's Office Whangarei

8434

13 October 1919

Frank Bird, Registrar Whangarei

No	39
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Herbert Barns-Wilson	Margaret Hoy
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Herbert Carns-Wilson	Margaret Hoy
	💍 1919/8771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	6 months	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	8434
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar Whangarei

24 October 1919

William Henry Harold Mortimer
Jessie North

William Henry Harold Mortimore
Jessie North
💍 1919/8750

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Household Duties

29
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

29 years
23 years

Residence of Mr G. North, Otaka Rd, Whangarei

8435

24 October 1919

Rev. J.R. Clark, Methodist Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Harold Mortimer	Jessie North
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Harold Mortimore	Jessie North
	💍 1919/8750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Household Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. North, Otaka Rd, Whangarei
Folio	8435
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.R. Clark, Methodist Minister

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).