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 1269

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

8 August 1919

Frederick Herbert Gregory Skews
Emily Mina O'Shanassy

Frederick Herbert Gregory Skews
Emily Uina O'Shanassy
💍 1919/4444

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Waitress

24
19

Napier
Napier

24 years
2 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

5772

Fannie O'Shanassy Mother

8 August 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	8 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herbert Gregory Skews	Emily Mina O'Shanassy
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Herbert Gregory Skews	Emily Uina O'Shanassy
	💍 1919/4444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Waitress
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5772
Consent	Fannie O'Shanassy Mother
Date of Certificate	8 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

9 August 1919

Nelson James Hill
Lucy Mary Foskett

Nelson James Hill
Lucy Mary Foskett
💍 1919/4445

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

20
19

Taradale
Napier

9 years
19 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

5773

James Hill Father Henry Foskett Father

9 August 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	97
Date of Notice	9 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson James Hill	Lucy Mary Foskett
	💍 1919/4445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	5773
Consent	James Hill Father Henry Foskett Father
Date of Certificate	9 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

9 August 1919

William Beattie Smith
Harriet Skidmore

William Beattie Smith
Harriet Skidmore
💍 1919/4446

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

33
27

Napier
Napier

7 years
27 years

Residence of J. J. Skidmore 16 Wellesley Road Napier

5774

9 August 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	9 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Beattie Smith	Harriet Skidmore
	💍 1919/4446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. J. Skidmore 16 Wellesley Road Napier
Folio	5774
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

11 August 1919

Leonard Arthur Ludlow
Phyllis May Doran

Leonard Arthur Ludlow
Phyllis May Doran
💍 1919/6329

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Typist

22
19

Napier
Napier

3 days
7 days

St. Augustine's Church Napier

5775

Alexander William Doran, Father

11 August 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

No	99
Date of Notice	11 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur Ludlow	Phyllis May Doran
	💍 1919/6329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Typist
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5775
Consent	Alexander William Doran, Father
Date of Certificate	11 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

100

15 August 1919

Francis Lawrence Colstone Moore
Hellen Vaughan

Francis Lawerence Colstone Moore
Hellen Vaughan
💍 1919/6340

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Telegraph clerk

28
27

Napier
Napier

2 years
8 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

5776

15 August 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	100
Date of Notice	15 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lawrence Colstone Moore	Hellen Vaughan
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Lawerence Colstone Moore	Hellen Vaughan
	💍 1919/6340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Telegraph clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	5776
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 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).