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 1263

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

16 June 1919

Percy Ernest Wootton
Carol McWilliams

Percy Ernest Wootton
Carol McWilliams
💍 1919/3414

Bachelor
Spinster

Dyer
Housemaid

20
22

Napier
Napier

2 years
8 months

Residence of Rev J. R. Richards Napier

3329

Supreme Court 12th June 1919

16 June 1919

Rev. J. R. Richards Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	16 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Ernest Wootton	Carol McWilliams
	💍 1919/3414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dyer	Housemaid
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. R. Richards Napier
Folio	3329
Consent	Supreme Court 12th June 1919
Date of Certificate	16 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards Methodist

17 June 1919

Francis Edward Moloney
Margaret Pearl O'Connor

Francis Edward Moloney
Margaret Pearl O'Connor
💍 1919/3415

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

26
22

Napier
Taradale

5 years
14 days

St. Patricks Church Napier

3330

17 June 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	17 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Moloney	Margaret Pearl O'Connor
	💍 1919/3415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Taradale
Length of Residence	5 years	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3330
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

19 June 1919

Leonard Toyer
Iris Melanie Marshall

Leonard Tozer
Iris Melanie Marshall
💍 1919/3416

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
16

Napier
Napier

4 months
5 years

Registrar's Office Napier

3331

Elizabeth Ellen Marshall Mother

19 June 1919

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	69
Date of Notice	19 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Toyer	Iris Melanie Marshall
BDM Match (96%)	Leonard Tozer	Iris Melanie Marshall
	💍 1919/3416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	3331
Consent	Elizabeth Ellen Marshall Mother
Date of Certificate	19 June 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

19 June 1919

Hugh Henry Sweeney
Eleanor Lynam

Hugh Henry Sweeney
Eleanor Lynam
💍 1919/3417

Bachelor
Married husband deserted over 8 years

Storeman
Domestic Duties

24
35

Napier
Napier

24 years
4 years

Registrar's Office Napier

3332

19 June 1919

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	70
Date of Notice	19 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Henry Sweeney	Eleanor Lynam
	💍 1919/3417
Condition	Bachelor	Married husband deserted over 8 years
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	3332
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

20 June 1919

John Murphy
Mary Ellen O'Brien

John Murphy
Mary Ellen O'Brien
💍 1919/3418

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
33

Napier
Napier

3 days
10 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

3333

20 June 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	71
Date of Notice	20 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murphy	Mary Ellen O'Brien
	💍 1919/3418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3333
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).