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 1229

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. Braithwaite

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

22 May 1919

Hugh Anderson Thompson
Elizabeth Bullen

Hugh Anderson Thompson
Elizabeth Bullen
💍 1919/3355

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dental Assistant

33
23

Hastings
Hastings

28 years
7 years

St. Andrew's Church, Hastings

3264

22 May 1919

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian Minister

No	42
Date of Notice	22 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Anderson Thompson	Elizabeth Bullen
	💍 1919/3355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dental Assistant
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	28 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Hastings
Folio	3264
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian Minister

28 May 1919

Clement Henry Wilson
Ida Agnes Clarkson

Clement Henry Wilson
Ida Agnes Clarkson
💍 1919/3356

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

31
32

Waimana, Opotiki
Havelock North

2 years
20 years

Church of England, Havelock North

3265

28 May 1919

Rev. J. A. Lush, Anglican Minister

No	43
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Henry Wilson	Ida Agnes Clarkson
	💍 1919/3356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Waimana, Opotiki	Havelock North
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Havelock North
Folio	3265
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush, Anglican Minister

28 May 1919

Richard Philip Withell
Beulah Goulstone Kenney

Richard Philip Withell
Billah Goulstone Kenney
💍 1919/3358

Bachelor
Spinster

Reporter
Domestic Duties

26
21

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Hastings

3266

28 May 1919

L. E. Braithwaite, Deputy Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Philip Withell	Beulah Goulstone Kenney
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Philip Withell	Billah Goulstone Kenney
	💍 1919/3358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reporter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	3266
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	L. E. Braithwaite, Deputy Registrar

31 May 1919

Arthur Harold Clote
Kathleen Barry

Arthur Harold Chote
Kathleen Barry
💍 1919/3359

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
25 years

Catholic Church, Hastings

3267

31 May 1919

Father Mahoney, Catholic Priest

No	45
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Harold Clote	Kathleen Barry
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Harold Chote	Kathleen Barry
	💍 1919/3359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	3267
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Father Mahoney, Catholic Priest

31 May 1919

Harold Frank Upton
Susan Emily Wedmarch

Harold Frank Upton
Susan Emily Wedmarch
💍 1919/3360

Bachelor
Divorced 13 May 1919

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
38

Hastings
Hastings

16 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Hastings

3268

31 May 1919

R. Braithwaite, Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Frank Upton	Susan Emily Wedmarch
	💍 1919/3360
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 13 May 1919
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	38
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	3268
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Braithwaite, Registrar

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).