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 1149

District of Patea Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar G. Ormsby

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

John Connolly
Mary Rodden

John Connolly
Mary Rodden
💍 1919/1370

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

28
41

Patea
Patea

4 weeks
4 days

Roman Catholic Church, Patea

3221

10 April 1919

Rev. S. Duffy, Roman Catholic Priest, Patea

No	3
Date of Notice	10 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Connolly	Mary Rodden
	💍 1919/1370
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	41
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Patea
Folio	3221
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Duffy, Roman Catholic Priest, Patea

12 April 1919

Alan Joseph Thompson
Elizabeth Margaret Marfitt

Alan Joseph Thompson
Elizabeth Margaret Murfitt
💍 1919/3321

Bachelor
Spinster

Grader Freezing Works
Domestic duties

21
19

Patea
Patea

6 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Patea

3222

George Bryant Marfitt, Father

12 April 1919

Rev. A. J. Reed, Presbyterian Minister, Patea

No	4
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Joseph Thompson	Elizabeth Margaret Marfitt
BDM Match (98%)	Alan Joseph Thompson	Elizabeth Margaret Murfitt
	💍 1919/3321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grader Freezing Works	Domestic duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Patea
Folio	3222
Consent	George Bryant Marfitt, Father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Reed, Presbyterian Minister, Patea

23 April 1919

Stanley Nisbet Grayson Blackhall
Irene Annie Bentley Dayne

Stanley Nisbet Grayson Blackhall
Irene Annie Bentley Payne
💍 1919/3332

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
21

Lepperton
Lepperton

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Patea

3223

23 April 1919

G. Ormsby, Registrar of Marriages, Patea

No	5
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Nisbet Grayson Blackhall	Irene Annie Bentley Dayne
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Nisbet Grayson Blackhall	Irene Annie Bentley Payne
	💍 1919/3332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Lepperton	Lepperton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Patea
Folio	3223
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	G. Ormsby, Registrar of Marriages, Patea

28 April 1919

Alexander John Riley
Myrtle Grace Wills

Alexander John Riley
Myrtle Grace Wills
💍 1919/3339

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

32
31

Manutahi
Manutahi

6 days
3 years

Thomas John Wills residence, Manutahi

3224

28 April 1919

Rev. A. J. Reed, Presbyterian Minister, Patea

No	6
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Riley	Myrtle Grace Wills
	💍 1919/3339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Manutahi	Manutahi
Length of Residence	6 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Thomas John Wills residence, Manutahi
Folio	3224
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Reed, Presbyterian Minister, Patea

13 June 1919

James Duncan
Florence Ethel Booth

James Duncan
Florence Ethel Booth
💍 1919/3340

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
28

Tiraumea
Patea

2 days (5 days)
25 years

Anglican Church, Patea

3225

16 June 1919

Rev. Frank George Evans, Church of England Minister, Hawera

No	7
Date of Notice	13 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Duncan	Florence Ethel Booth
	💍 1919/3340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Tiraumea	Patea
Length of Residence	2 days (5 days)	25 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Patea
Folio	3225
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank George Evans, Church of England Minister, Hawera

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).