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 1295

District of Norsewood Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. R. Gow

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

27 September 1919

Alfred Christian Olsen
Rasmine Kirstine Christensen Widi-

Alfred Christian Olsen
Rasmine Kirstine Christensen Widt
💍 1919/8970

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Norsewood
Norsewood

26 years
17 years

Residence of Rev. V. J. Mercer, Norsewood

8656

1 October 1919

Rev. V. J. Mercer, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	27 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Christian Olsen	Rasmine Kirstine Christensen Widi-
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Christian Olsen	Rasmine Kirstine Christensen Widt
	💍 1919/8970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	26 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. V. J. Mercer, Norsewood
Folio	8656
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. J. Mercer, Methodist

23 October 1919

Bernard Gundersen
Elsie Mary Magnussen

Bernard Gundersen
Elsie Mary Magnussen
💍 1919/8971

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
20

Norsewood
Norsewood

24 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Norsewood

8657

Nils Magnussen, Father

27 October 1919

Rev. J. M. Poole, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Gundersen	Elsie Mary Magnussen
	💍 1919/8971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Norsewood
Folio	8657
Consent	Nils Magnussen, Father
Date of Certificate	27 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Poole, Presbyterian

26 October 1919

Alfred Fritiof Adrian
Jane O'Hara

Alfred Fritjof Adrian
Jane O'Hara
💍 1919/8972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
21

Norsewood
Norsewood

27 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Norsewood

8658

30 October 1919

Rev. J. M. Poole, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	26 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Fritiof Adrian	Jane O'Hara
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Fritjof Adrian	Jane O'Hara
	💍 1919/8972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	27 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Norsewood
Folio	8658
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Poole, Presbyterian

1 November 1919

Harold Crosland
Engeberg Elizabeth Forward

Harold Crosland
Engeberg Elizabeth Forward
💍 1919/8973

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Shop Assistant

24
17

Norsewood
Norsewood

2 years
7 months

Presbyterian Church, Norsewood

8659

Francis Henry Forward, Father

4 November 1919

Rev. J. M. Poole, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	1 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Crosland	Engeberg Elizabeth Forward
	💍 1919/8973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Shop Assistant
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Norsewood
Folio	8659
Consent	Francis Henry Forward, Father
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Poole, Presbyterian

23 December 1919

Leonard Fleetwood Crawford
Avelene Jane Scott

Leonard Fleetwood Crawford
Adelene Jane Scott
💍 1920/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic Duties

25
22

Norsewood
Norsewood

3 days
1 month

Methodist Church

89/1920

27 December 1919

Rev. V. J. Mercer, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Fleetwood Crawford	Avelene Jane Scott
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Fleetwood Crawford	Adelene Jane Scott
	💍 1920/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	89/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. J. Mercer, Methodist

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).