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 1219

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

4 January 1919

Ernest John Ellingham
Winifred Loader

Ernest John Ellingham
Winifred Loader
💍 1919/4152

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

29
23

Hastings
Hastings

29 years
6 years

Registrar's Office Hastings

1136

4 January 1919

Robert Brathwaite

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Ellingham	Winifred Loader
	💍 1919/4152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	29 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hastings
Folio	1136
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

7 January 1919

Dougald John Riggir
Edith Eunice McLennan

Dougald John Rigger
Edith Eunice McLennan
💍 1919/1202

Widower
Widow

Sheepfarmer
School Teacher

37
36

Maretotara
Napier

9 years
3 days

Residence of Mr T. Hutchinson Napier

1158

7 January 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dougald John Riggir	Edith Eunice McLennan
BDM Match (97%)	Dougald John Rigger	Edith Eunice McLennan
	💍 1919/1202
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Sheepfarmer	School Teacher
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Maretotara	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr T. Hutchinson Napier
Folio	1158
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

11 January 1919

Harold Wall
Lillian Maud Vaughan

Harold Wall
Lilian Maud Vaughan
💍 1919/4153

Bachelor
Widow

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Hastings
Hastings

22 years
4 months

St Andrews Church Hastings

1137

11 January 1919

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	3
Date of Notice	11 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Wall	Lillian Maud Vaughan
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Wall	Lilian Maud Vaughan
	💍 1919/4153
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	22 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Hastings
Folio	1137
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

28 January 1919

William Deans
Katharine Mary Russell

William Deans
Katherine Mary Russell
💍 1919/4154

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

29
21

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
21 years

St Matthews Hastings

1138

28 January 1919

Rev. J. C. Cullwick

No	4
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Deans	Katharine Mary Russell
BDM Match (98%)	William Deans	Katherine Mary Russell
	💍 1919/4154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Hastings
Folio	1138
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Cullwick

3 February 1919

Hikawai Karena
Sophia Peter

Hikawai Karena
Sophia Peter
💍 1919/4155

Bachelor
Spinster

Landowner
Domestic

22
23

Fernhill
Fernhill

22 years
2 months

Registrar's Office Hastings

1139

3 February 1919

Robert Brathwaite

No	5
Date of Notice	3 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hikawai Karena	Sophia Peter
	💍 1919/4155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Landowner	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Fernhill	Fernhill
Length of Residence	22 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hastings
Folio	1139
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

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).