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 1299

District of Ormondville Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar A. Fowler

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

19 April 1919

Robert Henry Jones
Ida Mary Smith

Robert Henry Jones
Ida Mary Smith
💍 1919/3405

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
School Teacher

27
38

Woodville
Ormondville

7 months
9 months

Anglican Church Ormondville

3343

19 April 1919

Rev. F. W. Whibley, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	19 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Jones	Ida Mary Smith
	💍 1919/3405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	School Teacher
Age	27	38
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Ormondville
Length of Residence	7 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Ormondville
Folio	3343
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Whibley, Anglican

3 May 1919

Thomas James Arthur
Avis Louisa Gourley

Thomas James Arthur
Avis Louisa Gourlay
💍 1919/3406

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
Domestic Duties

19
17

Norsewood
Ormondville

12 years
1.5 years

Roman Catholic Church Ormondville

3344

E. H. Arthur (Father) (for groom); (14 days) Declaration taken if charged, no authorised person appeared for consent (for bride)

17 May 1919

Rev. Father McLoughlin, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	3 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Arthur	Avis Louisa Gourley
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas James Arthur	Avis Louisa Gourlay
	💍 1919/3406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Ormondville
Length of Residence	12 years	1.5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ormondville
Folio	3344
Consent	E. H. Arthur (Father) (for groom); (14 days) Declaration taken if charged, no authorised person appeared for consent (for bride)
Date of Certificate	17 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McLoughlin, Roman Catholic

12 May 1919

Albert Thornhull Nicholson
Charlotte Williams

Albert Thornhill Nicholson
Charlotte Williams
💍 1919/3408

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
20

Norsewood
Whetukura

10 weeks
15 years

Residence of Brides parents Whetukura

3345

W Williams Father

13 May 1919

Rev. F. W. Whibley, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	12 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thornhull Nicholson	Charlotte Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Thornhill Nicholson	Charlotte Williams
	💍 1919/3408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Whetukura
Length of Residence	10 weeks	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides parents Whetukura
Folio	3345
Consent	W Williams Father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Whibley, Anglican

23 June 1919

Thomas Lawton
Beatrice Harrison

Thomas Lawlor
Beatrice Harrison
💍 1919/3409

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
Domestic Duties

31
31

Peiroroa
Makotuku

1 month
3 months

Anglican Church Makotuku

3346

23 June 1919

Rev. F. W. Whibley

No	6
Date of Notice	23 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lawton	Beatrice Harrison
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Lawlor	Beatrice Harrison
	💍 1919/3409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Peiroroa	Makotuku
Length of Residence	1 month	3 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Makotuku
Folio	3346
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Whibley

23 June 1919

Thomas Taylor Hill
Violet Isabella Engebretsen

Thomas Taylor Bell
Violet Isobel Engebretsen
💍 1919/3410

Widower
Spinster

Warehouseman
Shop assistant

42
22

Wanganui
Makotuku

7 days
6 years

Methodist Church Makotuku

3347

23 June 1919

Rev. V. S. Mercer

No	7
Date of Notice	23 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Taylor Hill	Violet Isabella Engebretsen
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas Taylor Bell	Violet Isobel Engebretsen
	💍 1919/3410
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Shop assistant
Age	42	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Makotuku
Length of Residence	7 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Makotuku
Folio	3347
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. S. Mercer

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).