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 1255

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 April 1919

Frederick William Hall
Catherine Plumridge

Frederick William Hall
Catherine Plumridge
💍 1919/3374

Bachelor
Widow 3 December 1917

Farmer
House Duties

33
23

Napier
Napier

5 days
6 years

Presbyterian Church Napier

3312

1 April 1919

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	27
Date of Notice	1 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Hall	Catherine Plumridge
	💍 1919/3374
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 3 December 1917
Profession	Farmer	House Duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Napier
Folio	3312
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

8 April 1919

Robert John Mawson
Mary Ann Pulford

Robert John Mawson
Mary Ann Pulford
💍 1919/3375

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
27

Clive
Clive

3 days
27 years

St. Marks Church Clive

3313

8 April 1919

Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	8 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Mawson	Mary Ann Pulford
	💍 1919/3375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church Clive
Folio	3313
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

9 April 1919

Horace Victor Morley
Maud Alice Allan

Horace Victor Morley
Maud Alice Allan
💍 1919/3376

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic

28
22

Napier
Napier

28 years
22 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

3314

9 April 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Victor Morley	Maud Alice Allan
	💍 1919/3376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	3314
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

11 April 1919

James Thorp
Lilian Forrest Gordon

James Thorp
Lilian Forrest Gordon
💍 1919/3502

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Importer
Domestic Duties

25
19

Napier
Masterton

2 months
19 years

St. Matthews Anglican Church Masterton

3486

John William Gordon, Father

11 April 1919

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thorp	Lilian Forrest Gordon
	💍 1919/3502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Importer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Anglican Church Masterton
Folio	3486
Consent	John William Gordon, Father
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

11 April 1919

Thomas Matthew Murnane
Louisa Coe

Thomas Matthew Murnane
Louisa Coe
💍 1919/3377

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Worker
Clerk

29
29

Taradale
Napier

29 years
29 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

3315

11 April 1919

Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	31
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Matthew Murnane	Louisa Coe
	💍 1919/3377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Worker	Clerk
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	29 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3315
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

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).