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 1265

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar H. 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 July 1919

Stephen Frank Davis
Gladys Ethel Ellis

Stephen Frank Davis
Gladys Ethel Ellis
💍 1919/4441

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
23

Napier
Napier

5 days
2 years

Methodist Church, Napier

5752

1 July 1919

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	76
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Frank Davis	Gladys Ethel Ellis
	💍 1919/4441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	5752
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

4 July 1919

Albert John Henderson
Annie Clara Wilson

Albert John Henderson
Annie Clara Wilson
💍 1919/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Housemaid

22
26

Napier
Napier

3 days
26 years

Residence of Mrs. Hayward, Munroe Street, Napier

5753

4 July 1919

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	77
Date of Notice	4 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Henderson	Annie Clara Wilson
	💍 1919/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Housemaid
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Hayward, Munroe Street, Napier
Folio	5753
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

4 July 1919

Carl Frank Bettridge
Louisa Henrietta Priaulx

Carl Frank Bettziecke
Louisa Henrietta Priaulx
💍 1919/4448

Widower (21 April 1908)
Spinster

Station Hand
Domestic Servant

56
29

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

34 Dickens Street, Napier

5754

4 July 1919

Edward Gibbs, Adjutant Salvation Army

No	78
Date of Notice	4 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Frank Bettridge	Louisa Henrietta Priaulx
BDM Match (91%)	Carl Frank Bettziecke	Louisa Henrietta Priaulx
	💍 1919/4448
Condition	Widower (21 April 1908)	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand	Domestic Servant
Age	56	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	34 Dickens Street, Napier
Folio	5754
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Edward Gibbs, Adjutant Salvation Army

7 July 1919

John Edwin Smith
Emily Agnes Bridger

John Edwin Smith
Emily Agnes Bridger
💍 1919/4449

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur
Domestic

42
34

Napier
Napier

5 days
12 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

5755

7 July 1919

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	79
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin Smith	Emily Agnes Bridger
	💍 1919/4449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur	Domestic
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5755
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

17 July 1919

Arthur Albert Taylor
Grace Irene Garrett

Arthur Albert Taylor
Grace Irene Ganett
💍 1919/4450

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

27
22

Napier
Napier

3 days
20 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

5756

17 July 1919

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Albert Taylor	Grace Irene Garrett
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Albert Taylor	Grace Irene Ganett
	💍 1919/4450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	5756
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, 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).