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 1283

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

165

3 December 1919

James Bryce Tweedie
Martha Dreaver

James Bryce Tweedie
Martha Dreaver
💍 1919/8950

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Costumier

30
33

Napier
Napier

30 years
33 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

8636

3 December 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	165
Date of Notice	3 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bryce Tweedie	Martha Dreaver
	💍 1919/8950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Costumier
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	8636
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

166

4 December 1919

William James Key
Catherina Young

William James Key
Catherina Young
💍 1919/8951

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron moulder
Machinist

31
30

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

5 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Port Ahuriri

8637

4 December 1919

Rev. James Hay, Presbyterian

No	166
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Key	Catherina Young
	💍 1919/8951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron moulder	Machinist
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	8637
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hay, Presbyterian

167

5 December 1919

Ernest Youngquest
Harriet Emma Bishop

Ernest Youngquest
Harriet Emma Bishop
💍 1919/8952

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

32
28

Napier
Napier

3 days
14 days

St Augustines' Church, Napier

8638

5 December 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	167
Date of Notice	5 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Youngquest	Harriet Emma Bishop
	💍 1919/8952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Augustines' Church, Napier
Folio	8638
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

168

8 December 1919

John James McConnell
Florence Pulford

John James McGonnell
Florence Pulford
💍 1919/8953

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
20

Napier
Napier

20 years
12 years

99 Shakespeare Road, Napier

8639

Emma Watson formerly Pulford Mother

8 December 1919

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	168
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James McConnell	Florence Pulford
BDM Match (98%)	John James McGonnell	Florence Pulford
	💍 1919/8953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	99 Shakespeare Road, Napier
Folio	8639
Consent	Emma Watson formerly Pulford Mother
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

169

9 December 1919

William James Grundy
Harriett Maria Ward

William James Grundy
Harriett Maria Ward
💍 1919/8954

Widower 10-5-01
Widow December 07

Clerk
Domestic Duties

66
49

Napier
Napier

39 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

8640

9 December 1919

James Craigie Deputy Registrar

No	169
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Grundy	Harriett Maria Ward
	💍 1919/8954
Condition	Widower 10-5-01	Widow December 07
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	66	49
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	39 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	8640
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1919
Officiating Minister	James Craigie Deputy Registrar

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).