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 1251

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

10 February 1919

James Porteous Thomson
Barbara Edith Scott

James Porteous Thomson
Barbara Edith Scott
💍 1919/1185

Widower 10 November 1917
Spinster

Commission agent
Domestic Duties

58
31

Napier
Napier

30 years
19 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

1163

10 February 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	10 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Porteous Thomson	Barbara Edith Scott
	💍 1919/1185
Condition	Widower 10 November 1917	Spinster
Profession	Commission agent	Domestic Duties
Age	58	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	1163
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

19 February 1919

Henry Wemyss Tait
Ruth Rathborn

Henry Wemyss Rait
Ruth Rathboon
💍 1919/4157

Divorced 12 December 1914
Spinster

Dental Surgeon
Nurse

48
37

Napier
Havelock North

3 months
9 months

St. Andrew's Church Hastings

1141

19 February 1919

Rev. Peter Ramsay Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wemyss Tait	Ruth Rathborn
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Wemyss Rait	Ruth Rathboon
	💍 1919/4157
Condition	Divorced 12 December 1914	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon	Nurse
Age	48	37
Dwelling Place	Napier	Havelock North
Length of Residence	3 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Hastings
Folio	1141
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter Ramsay Presbyterian

19 February 1919

Takurua Tamarau
Full maori
Annie Biddle
Half Caste

Takurua Tamarau
Annie Biddle
💍 1919/1186

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
about 34

Napier
Napier

10 days
10 days

Registrar's Office Napier

1166

19 February 1919

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Takurua Tamarau Full maori	Annie Biddle Half Caste
	💍 1919/1186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	about 34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	1166
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

25 February 1919

Benjamin Bousfield Creagh
Dorothy Georgine Absolum

Benjamin Bousfield Creagh
Dorothy Georgine Absolum
💍 1919/1187

Widower 4 June 1917
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

45
27

Napier
Napier

38 years
12 years

St. Augustines' Church Napier

1167

25 February 1919

Rev. F. B. Redgrave Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	25 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Bousfield Creagh	Dorothy Georgine Absolum
	💍 1919/1187
Condition	Widower 4 June 1917	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	45	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	38 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines' Church Napier
Folio	1167
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave Church of England

26 February 1919

Joseph Henry Snell
Hannah Franklin

Joseph Henry Snell
Hannah Franklin
💍 1919/1188

Widower 19 October 1917
Widow 3 January 1900

Labourer
Domestic Duties

48
47

Westshore
Napier

43 years
30 years

Registrar's Office Napier

1168

26 February 1919

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Snell	Hannah Franklin
	💍 1919/1188
Condition	Widower 19 October 1917	Widow 3 January 1900
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	48	47
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Napier
Length of Residence	43 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	1168
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan 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).