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 1175

District of Waimate Plains Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. W. Collier

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

8 July 1919

Francis James Kelly
Mary Laing Hunt

Francis James Kelly
Mary Laing Hunt
💍 1919/6299

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
22

Manaia
Manaia

3 days
6 weeks

R. C. Church Manaia

5679

8 July 1919

Rev. W. J. Saunderson R. C.

No	10
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Kelly	Mary Laing Hunt
	💍 1919/6299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	R. C. Church Manaia
Folio	5679
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Saunderson R. C.

9 July 1919

John Thomas Clague
Martha Hunt

John Thomas Clague
Martha Hunt
💍 1919/6300

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

35
27

Manaia
Manaia

14 years
14 years

Church of England Manaia

5680

9 July 1919

Rev. W. Tye Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	9 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Clague	Martha Hunt
	💍 1919/6300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Manaia
Folio	5680
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tye Church of England

4 August 1919

Hiko Puano Rakena
Mihi Ngarua

Hiko Puano Rakena
Mihi Ngarua
💍 1919/6301

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

29
31

Otakeho
Otakeho

6 weeks
6 weeks

Registrar's Office Manaia

5681

4 August 1919

J. W. Collier Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hiko Puano Rakena	Mihi Ngarua
	💍 1919/6301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Otakeho	Otakeho
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Manaia
Folio	5681
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	J. W. Collier Registrar

13 August 1919

Samuel French
Jane Morton Sutton

Samuel French
Jane Morton Sutton
💍 1919/6302

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

38
40

Manaia
Manaia

17 years
3 years

Church of England Manaia

5682

13 August 1919

Rev. W. Tye Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	13 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel French	Jane Morton Sutton
	💍 1919/6302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	17 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Manaia
Folio	5682
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tye Church of England

24 September 1919

Roderick Stuart Fraser Craig
Freda Barleyman

Roderick Stuart Fraser Craig
Freda Barleyman
💍 1919/6303

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
Domestic

36
24

Manaia
Manaia

5 years
23 years

Church of England Manaia

5683

24 September 1919

Rev. W. Tye Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	24 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Stuart Fraser Craig	Freda Barleyman
	💍 1919/6303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	Domestic
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Manaia
Folio	5683
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tye Church of England

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).