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 1187

District of Waitara Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar J. Boland

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 October 1919

Thomas James Hamilton Wallace
Emily Nelson
formerly Randle

Thomas James Hamilton Wallace
Emily Nelson
💍 1919/8829

Divorced (decree absolute 22-8-09)
Widow (14-7-17)

Engine driver
Domestic

62
53

Waitara
Waitara

20 years
4 days

Private Residence of Mr H. Wallace Stafford Street - Waitara

3539

1 October 1919

Mr Charles E. Perkins Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Hamilton Wallace	Emily Nelson formerly Randle
	💍 1919/8829
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 22-8-09)	Widow (14-7-17)
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	62	53
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	20 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr H. Wallace Stafford Street - Waitara
Folio	3539
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr Charles E. Perkins Presbyterian

10 October 1919

Gilbert James Weston
Nina Elsie Parli

Gilbert James Weston
Nina Elsie Parli
💍 1919/8784

Widower
Spinster

Builder
School Teacher

29
27

Waitara
Inglewood

3 Months
3 years

Knox Presbyterian Church Inglewood

8468

10 October 1919

Mr George Ireland Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	10 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert James Weston	Nina Elsie Parli
	💍 1919/8784
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	School Teacher
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Inglewood
Length of Residence	3 Months	3 years
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church Inglewood
Folio	8468
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr George Ireland Presbyterian

12 November 1919

William Douglas Roebuck
Harriet Hilda Spurdle

William Douglas Roebuck
Harriet Hilda Spurdle
💍 1919/8830

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

28
24

Waitara
Waitara

2 years
24 years

St Johns Church of England Waitara

3540

12 November 1919

Rev G Gavin

No	23
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Douglas Roebuck	Harriet Hilda Spurdle
	💍 1919/8830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England Waitara
Folio	3540
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G Gavin

17 December 1919

John McKendrick
Lily Mary Klenner

John McKendrick
Lily Mary Klenner
💍 1919/8831

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Clerk

26
24

Waitara
Waitara

1 year
24 years

St Johns Church Waitara

3541

17 December 1919

Rev G H Gavin

No	24
Date of Notice	17 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKendrick	Lily Mary Klenner
	💍 1919/8831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	1 year	24 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Waitara
Folio	3541
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G H Gavin

30 December 1919

Hector Duncan George
Grace Eliza Marsh

Hector Duncan George
Grace Eliza Marsh
💍 1920/2665

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
21

Waitara
Uranui

8 Months
8 years

Church of England Uranui

80/1920

30 December 1919

Rev G H Gavin

No	25
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Duncan George	Grace Eliza Marsh
	💍 1920/2665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Uranui
Length of Residence	8 Months	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Uranui
Folio	80/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G H Gavin

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).