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 1221

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar R. 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

24 February 1919

John Ridley Hunter
Emma Pauline Eras

John Ridley Hunter
Emma Pauline Eras
💍 1919/4162

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

35
27

Havelock North
Havelock North

1 week
2 years

St Luke's, Havelock

1145

24 February 1919

Rev. A. F. Hall

No	11
Date of Notice	24 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ridley Hunter	Emma Pauline Eras
	💍 1919/4162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	1 week	2 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's, Havelock
Folio	1145
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Hall

26 February 1919

Thomas Waterworth
Elspeth Irene Innes

Thomas Waterworth
Elspeth Irene Innes
💍 1919/4163

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon
Domestic Duties

48
37

Hastings
Hastings

8 years
7 years

St Matthew's, Hastings

1146

26 February 1919

Rev. Simkin

No	12
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Waterworth	Elspeth Irene Innes
	💍 1919/4163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon	Domestic Duties
Age	48	37
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's, Hastings
Folio	1146
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Simkin

26 February 1919

Tawa Tiwai
Ka Kerona (Kersana)

Tawa Tiwai
Ka Keriana
💍 1919/4164

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

38
40

Ko Rangata
Ko Rangata

2 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Hastings

1147

26 February 1919

Robert Brathwaite

No	13
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tawa Tiwai	Ka Kerona (Kersana)
BDM Match (74%)	Tawa Tiwai	Ka Keriana
	💍 1919/4164
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Ko Rangata	Ko Rangata
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	1147
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

1 March 1919

John Vivian Cushing
Bessie Spence Kenny

John Vivian Cushing
Bessie Spence Kenny
💍 1919/4165

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Shop Assistant

22
19

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
8 months

St Matthew's, Hastings

1148

Michael Kenny, Father, Hastings

1 March 1919

Rev. Simkin

No	14
Date of Notice	1 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Vivian Cushing	Bessie Spence Kenny
	💍 1919/4165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	St Matthew's, Hastings
Folio	1148
Consent	Michael Kenny, Father, Hastings
Date of Certificate	1 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Simkin

8 March 1919

Harold Edward Stowe
Ivy Margaret Ellis

Harold Edward Stowe
Ivy Margaret Ellis
💍 1919/4166

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Duties

24
19

Hastings
Hastings

24 years
19 years

St Matthew's, Hastings

1149

Frederick Sydney Joseph Ellis, Father, Hastings

8 March 1919

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	15
Date of Notice	8 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Stowe	Ivy Margaret Ellis
	💍 1919/4166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's, Hastings
Folio	1149
Consent	Frederick Sydney Joseph Ellis, Father, Hastings
Date of Certificate	8 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

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).