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 1273

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

116

15 September 1919

George Bone
Clara Greenwood

George Bone
Clara Greenwood
💍 1919/6336

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

53
39

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Napier

5790

15 September 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	116
Date of Notice	15 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bone	Clara Greenwood
	💍 1919/6336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	53	39
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Napier
Folio	5790
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

117

16 September 1919

Francis White Martin
Florence Bertha Williams

Francis White Martin
Florence Bertha Williams
💍 1919/6337

Widower 27 December 1913
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Teacher of Music

62
39

Napier
Napier

6 years
39 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

5791

16 September 1919

The Bishop of Waiapu, Church of England

No	117
Date of Notice	16 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis White Martin	Florence Bertha Williams
	💍 1919/6337
Condition	Widower 27 December 1913	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Teacher of Music
Age	62	39
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	39 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5791
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1919
Officiating Minister	The Bishop of Waiapu, Church of England

118

16 September 1919

Thomas James Jarvis
Miriam Hazelwood

Thomas James Jarvis
Miriam Hazelwood
💍 1919/6338

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker
Domestic Duties

39
46

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

39 years
10 days

Church of England, Taradale

5792

16 September 1919

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	118
Date of Notice	16 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Jarvis	Miriam Hazelwood
	💍 1919/6338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker	Domestic Duties
Age	39	46
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	39 years	10 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taradale
Folio	5792
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

119

16 September 1919

Joseph Rockell
Margaret Helen Watts

Joseph Rockell
Margaret Helen Watts
💍 1919/6339

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

34
25

Greenmeadows
Napier

20 years
7 months

Methodist Church, Greenmeadows

5793

16 September 1919

Rev. J. K. Richards, Methodist

No	119
Date of Notice	16 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Rockell	Margaret Helen Watts
	💍 1919/6339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Greenmeadows
Folio	5793
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Richards, Methodist

120

23 September 1919

William Benjamin Yeoman
Jane Dawson Harlow

William Benjamin Yeoman
Jane Dawson Harlow
💍 1919/6341

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Napier
Napier

7 years
7 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

5794

23 September 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	120
Date of Notice	23 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Benjamin Yeoman	Jane Dawson Harlow
	💍 1919/6341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	5794
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

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).