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 1047

District of Eltham Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar E. C. Holt

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

1 July 1919

John Frederick Saggers
Edith Emily Bullot nee Hodges

John Frederick Saggers
Edith Emily Bullot
💍 1919/6177

Widower 15/1/18
Widow 20/9/14

Labourer
Domestic Duties

46
39

Eltham
Eltham

3 Days
3 Days

Registrar office Eltham

5536

1 July 1919

L. A. Bott, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Saggers	Edith Emily Bullot nee Hodges
BDM Match (81%)	John Frederick Saggers	Edith Emily Bullot
	💍 1919/6177
Condition	Widower 15/1/18	Widow 20/9/14
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Registrar office Eltham
Folio	5536
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	L. A. Bott, Registrar

11 July 1919

Henry Cleaver
Muriel Bluett

Henry Cleaver
Muriel Bluett
💍 1919/6178

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
24

Te Roti
Te Roti

28 years
8 years

Church of England Te Roti

5537

11 July 1919

Rev O. W. Stent, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cleaver	Muriel Bluett
	💍 1919/6178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Te Roti	Te Roti
Length of Residence	28 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Te Roti
Folio	5537
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev O. W. Stent, Church of England

25 July 1919

Thomas Leo Walsh
Mary Magdalen Brown

Thomas Leo Walsh
Mary Magdalen Brown
💍 1919/6179

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

34
28

Eltham
Mangatoki

16 years
1 year

St Josephs Church Eltham

5538

25 July 1919

Rev Jas Arkwright, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leo Walsh	Mary Magdalen Brown
	💍 1919/6179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Mangatoki
Length of Residence	16 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church Eltham
Folio	5538
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Arkwright, Roman Catholic

4 August 1919

Jewel Charles Hitchcock
Gertrude Mabel Jane Copp

Lessel Charles Hitchcock
Gertrude Mabel Jane Copp
💍 1919/6180

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

28
28

Eltham
Eltham

8 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Eltham

5539

4 August 1919

Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian Church

No	17
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jewel Charles Hitchcock	Gertrude Mabel Jane Copp
BDM Match (94%)	Lessel Charles Hitchcock	Gertrude Mabel Jane Copp
	💍 1919/6180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Eltham
Folio	5539
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian Church

4 August 1919

Cecil Charles Stanners
Olive Elsie Gibson

Cecil Charles Stanners
Olive Elsie Gibson
💍 1919/6157

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager Motor Garage
Household Duties

28
27

Eltham
Eltham

28 years
17 years

Mr H. G. Gibson's residence Smart Road Eltham

5560

4 August 1919

Rev J. G. G. Castle ma, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Charles Stanners	Olive Elsie Gibson
	💍 1919/6157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager Motor Garage	Household Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	28 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Mr H. G. Gibson's residence Smart Road Eltham
Folio	5560
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. G. G. Castle ma, Church of England

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).