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 1279

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

145

8 November 1919

William Anderson Kennedy
Bessie Georgina Murty

William Anderson Kennedy
Bessie Georgina Murty
💍 1919/8931

Bachelor
Widow 3rd April 1915

Farmer
Farmer

54
39

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

8616

8 November 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	145
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Anderson Kennedy	Bessie Georgina Murty
	💍 1919/8931
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 3rd April 1915
Profession	Farmer	Farmer
Age	54	39
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	8616
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

146

10 November 1919

Harold John McCutcheon
Mildred Brown

Harold John McCutcheon
Mildred Brown
💍 1919/8933

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
27

Greenmeadows
Taradale

2 1/2 years
27 years

Church of England, Taradale

8617

10 November 1919

Rev. Canon Clarke, Church of England

No	146
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John McCutcheon	Mildred Brown
	💍 1919/8933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Taradale
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taradale
Folio	8617
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Clarke, Church of England

147

10 November 1919

Eric James Orr
Irene Madge Ballantyne

Eric James Orr
Irene Madge Ballantyne
💍 1919/8934

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic Duties

21
22

Puketapu
Puketapu

21 years
22 years

Church of England, Puketapu

8618

10 November 1919

Rev. Canon Cullwick, Church of England

No	147
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric James Orr	Irene Madge Ballantyne
	💍 1919/8934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Puketapu
Length of Residence	21 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Puketapu
Folio	8618
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Cullwick, Church of England

148

11 November 1919

Percy Alderson Bisset
Rose Campbell Pocock

Percy Alderson Bisset
Rose Campbell Pocock
💍 1919/8935

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
22

Napier
Napier

3 days
7 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

8619

11 November 1919

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	148
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Alderson Bisset	Rose Campbell Pocock
	💍 1919/8935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	8619
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

149

11 November 1919

George John Perry Almao
Lily Martha Doris Davies

George John Perry Almao
Lily Martha Doris Davies
💍 1919/8936

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic Duties

21
17

Napier
Napier

7 months
2 months

Residence of Mrs. Smith, Wellesley Road, Napier

8620

Lucy Smith formerly Davies Mother

11 November 1919

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregationalist

No	149
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Perry Almao	Lily Martha Doris Davies
	💍 1919/8936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic Duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Smith, Wellesley Road, Napier
Folio	8620
Consent	Lucy Smith formerly Davies Mother
Date of Certificate	11 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregationalist

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).