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 1253

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

11 March 1919

William Hamilton Hartree
Violet Catherine Smale

William Hamilton Hartree
Violet Catherine Smale
💍 1919/1195

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Nurse

27
27

Napier
Napier

27 years
27 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

1174

11 March 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hamilton Hartree	Violet Catherine Smale
	💍 1919/1195
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Nurse
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	1174
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

24 March 1919

William Norton
Boletta Jane Mortensen

William Norton
Boletta Jane Mortensen
💍 1919/1481

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Waitress

21
25

Napier
Napier

5 days
20 years

Congregational Church, Napier

1175

24 March 1919

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	22
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Norton	Boletta Jane Mortensen
	💍 1919/1481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Waitress
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Napier
Folio	1175
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

25 March 1919

William Alfred Robert Fussell
Dorothy Victoria Adams

William Alfred Robert Fussell
Dorothy Victoria Adams
💍 1919/1492

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic Duties

22
18

Taradale
Taradale

4 years
14 years

Anglican Church, Taradale

1176

Frederick Charles Adams, Father

25 March 1919

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	25 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Robert Fussell	Dorothy Victoria Adams
	💍 1919/1492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taradale
Folio	1176
Consent	Frederick Charles Adams, Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

26 March 1919

John Wesley Loper
Mary Rachel Curteis

John Wesley Loper
Mary Rachel Curteis
💍 1919/1499

Widower 7th August 1916
Widow 12th March 1910

Sergeant, Royal NZ Artillery
Domestic Duties

37
43

Napier
Napier

5 years
2 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

1177

26 March 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	26 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wesley Loper	Mary Rachel Curteis
	💍 1919/1499
Condition	Widower 7th August 1916	Widow 12th March 1910
Profession	Sergeant, Royal NZ Artillery	Domestic Duties
Age	37	43
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1177
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

27 March 1919

William John Rowney
Isabel Sutton

William John Rowney
Isabel Sutton
💍 1919/1500

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

27
30

Napier
Napier

11 days
12 years

Methodist Church, Napier

1178

27 March 1919

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	27 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Rowney	Isabel Sutton
	💍 1919/1500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	1178
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

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).