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 1275

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

125

1 October 1919

Louis Wood
Clara Miriam Thornton

Louis Wood
Clara Miriam Thornton
💍 1919/8912

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool valuer
House Keeper

28
22

Napier
Napier

18 months
10 years

St. Johns cathedral Napier

8596

1 October 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	125
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Wood	Clara Miriam Thornton
	💍 1919/8912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool valuer	House Keeper
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	18 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns cathedral Napier
Folio	8596
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

126

4 October 1919

Archibald Richard Evans
Louisa May Holland

Archibald Richard Evans
Louisa May Holland
💍 1919/8913

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach painter
Printing Machine Feeder

28
18

Awatoto
Awatoto

4 years
16 years

Registrars Office Napier

8597

William Denis Holland, Father

4 October 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	126
Date of Notice	4 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Richard Evans	Louisa May Holland
	💍 1919/8913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach painter	Printing Machine Feeder
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Awatoto	Awatoto
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Napier
Folio	8597
Consent	William Denis Holland, Father
Date of Certificate	4 October 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

127

6 October 1919

William Alexander Stewart
Elizabeth Jane Hosking

William Alexander Stewart
Elizabeth Jane Hosking
💍 1919/8921

Divorced November 1916
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic

32
28

Napier
Te Pohue

4 days
10 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Napier

8598

6 October 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Stewart	Elizabeth Jane Hosking
	💍 1919/8921
Condition	Divorced November 1916	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Te Pohue
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	8598
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

128

6 October 1919

Matthew Donald Mullooly
Edith Collins

Matthew Donald Mullooly
Edith Collins
💍 1919/8932

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

24
24

Meeanee
Meeanee

5 days
14 days

St. Patricks Church Napier

8599

6 October 1919

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	128
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Donald Mullooly	Edith Collins
	💍 1919/8932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Meeanee	Meeanee
Length of Residence	5 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	8599
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

129

8 October 1919

Eric George Rhodes
Isabel Christena Mawhinney

Eric George Rhodes
Isabel Christena Mawhinney
💍 1919/8939

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

30
24

Napier
Napier

7 weeks
5 weeks

St. Johns Cathedral Napier

8600

8 October 1919

Rev. W. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	129
Date of Notice	8 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric George Rhodes	Isabel Christena Mawhinney
	💍 1919/8939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral Napier
Folio	8600
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Simkin, Church of England

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).