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 1261

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

2 June 1919

Martin Sigfred Sjune Nilsson
Ruby Williamina Anderson

Martin Sigfred Sjune Nilsson
Ruby Williamina Anderson
💍 1919/3469

Widower 16 Mar. 1902
Spinster

Farmer
Milliner

46
25

Napier
Napier

3 days
2.5 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

3297

2 June 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Sigfred Sjune Nilsson	Ruby Williamina Anderson
	💍 1919/3469
Condition	Widower 16 Mar. 1902	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Milliner
Age	46	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	2.5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	3297
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

2 June 1919

Arthur John Morris
Maud Mary Lansdowne Shaw

Arthur John Morris
Maud Mary Lansdowne Shaw
💍 1919/3470

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

43
46

Mangahake
Mangahake

5 weeks
8 years

Anglican Church, Puketapu

3298

2 June 1919

Rev. J. C. Cullwick, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Morris	Maud Mary Lansdowne Shaw
	💍 1919/3470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	46
Dwelling Place	Mangahake	Mangahake
Length of Residence	5 weeks	8 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Puketapu
Folio	3298
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Cullwick, Church of England

4 June 1919

Clarence John McHattie
Mary Ellen Oates

Clarence John McHattie
Mary Ellen Oates
💍 1919/3471

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

26
26

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

3299

4 June 1919

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence John McHattie	Mary Ellen Oates
	💍 1919/3471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	3299
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

4 June 1919

Robert Edwin Wilkinson
Marjorie Griggs

Robert Edwin Wilkinson
Marjorie Griggs
💍 1919/3472

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolwasher
Domestic

23
19

Clive
Clive

14 years
5 years

Residence of Mrs. Forrest, Barnell Street, Napier

3300

4 June 1919

Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregationalist

No	60
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edwin Wilkinson	Marjorie Griggs
	💍 1919/3472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolwasher	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Forrest, Barnell Street, Napier
Folio	3300
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregationalist

4 June 1919

William Henry Smith
Margaret Agatha Mahoney

William Henry Smith
Margaret Agatha Mahoney
💍 1919/3371

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer
Domestic

28
21

Napier
Napier

7 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

3301

5 June 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Smith	Margaret Agatha Mahoney
	💍 1919/3371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	3301
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 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).