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 1053

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar W. J. Jarvis depy

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

6 January 1919

Henry Able Beesley
Stella Ada Winzenberg

Henry Able Beesley
Stella Ada Winzenberg
💍 1919/1111

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Photographer's Assistant

27
29

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Hawera

1066

6 January 1919

The Registrar Hawera

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Able Beesley	Stella Ada Winzenberg
	💍 1919/1111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Photographer's Assistant
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hawera
Folio	1066
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	The Registrar Hawera

7 January 1919

Norman Bennett Howell
Rita Mabel Gladstone Allen

Norman Bennett Howell
Rita Mardel Gladstone Allen
💍 1919/1112

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothing & Mercery Manager
Bookkeeper

25
21

Hawera
Hawera

4 days
6 months

Church of England Hawera

1067

7 January 1919

Rev C H Grant Cowen Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Bennett Howell	Rita Mabel Gladstone Allen
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Bennett Howell	Rita Mardel Gladstone Allen
	💍 1919/1112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothing & Mercery Manager	Bookkeeper
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Hawera
Folio	1067
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev C H Grant Cowen Anglican

7 January 1919

William Lepper
Edith Mary Proffit

William Lepper
Edith Mary Proffit
💍 1919/340

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
22

Hawera
Whangamomona

3 days
8 years

Presbyterian Sunday School Hall Whangamomona

7 January 1919

Rev A W Norrie Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lepper	Edith Mary Proffit
	💍 1919/340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Whangamomona
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Sunday School Hall Whangamomona
Folio	89
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A W Norrie Presbyterian

7 January 1919

Thomas Magee
Margaret Kelleher

Thomas Magee
Margaret Kelleher
💍 1919/1113

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic

40
28

Hawera
Hawera

4 months
1 month

Roman Catholic Church Hawera

1068

7 January 1919

Rev Dean P. J. Power Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Magee	Margaret Kelleher
	💍 1919/1113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hawera
Folio	1068
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Dean P. J. Power Roman Catholic

16 January 1919

Francis Edward Rae
Mildred Mary Tozer

Francis Edward Rae
Mildred Mary Tozer
💍 1919/1115

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

24
24

Hawera
Hawera

1 Year
1 Year

Methodist Church Hawera

1069

16 January 1919

Rev A Liversedge Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Rae	Mildred Mary Tozer
	💍 1919/1115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 Year	1 Year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hawera
Folio	1069
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Liversedge Methodist

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).