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 1281

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

155

21 November 1919

Percy Garland Woon
Isabel Rawston

Percy Garland Woon
Isabel Rawston
💍 1919/8963

Widower
Spinster

Mercantile Broker
Milliner

37
28

Napier
Napier

20 years
9 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

8626

21 November 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	155
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Garland Woon	Isabel Rawston
	💍 1919/8963
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Broker	Milliner
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	8626
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

156

21 November 1919

Thomas Henry Harrison
Hilda Waldron

Thomas Henry Harrison
Hilda Waldron
💍 1919/8964

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

34
24

Taradale
Taradale

34 years
8 years

Church of England Taradale

8627

21 November 1919

Rev. Canon Clarke, Church of England

No	156
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Harrison	Hilda Waldron
	💍 1919/8964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	34 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Taradale
Folio	8627
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Clarke, Church of England

157

21 November 1919

Albert Ernest Shufflebotham
Daisy Walters

Albert Ernest Shufflebotham
Daisy Walters
💍 1919/8965

Bachelor
Spinster

Returned Soldier
Waitress

28
28

Whakatu
Whakatu

5 days
7 years

Congregational Manse Napier

8628

21 November 1919

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	157
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Shufflebotham	Daisy Walters
	💍 1919/8965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Returned Soldier	Waitress
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Whakatu	Whakatu
Length of Residence	5 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Manse Napier
Folio	8628
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

158

22 November 1919

Robert William Dick
Hilda Margaret Marsh

Robert William Dick
Hilda Margaret Marsh
💍 1919/8966

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic Duties

28
24

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 1/2 years

St. John's Cathedral Napier

8629

22 November 1919

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	158
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Dick	Hilda Margaret Marsh
	💍 1919/8966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	8629
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

159

24 November 1919

Herbert Victor Bond
Nina Olea Bertha Hansen

Herbert Victor Bond
Nina Olea Bertha Hansen
💍 1919/9852

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Saleswoman

25
25

Napier
Napier

2 years
25 years

Congregational Church Napier

8630

24 November 1919

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	159
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Victor Bond	Nina Olea Bertha Hansen
	💍 1919/9852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Napier
Folio	8630
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

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).