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 1337

District of Waipukurau Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. Mahon

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

14 January 1919

Harry Vincent Green
Una Winifred Sharpin

Harry Vincent Green
Una Winifred Sharpin
💍 1919/1488

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Milliner

29
28

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

10 years
28 years

St Mary's Church Waipukurau

1190

14 January 1919

Rev. A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	14 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Vincent Green	Una Winifred Sharpin
	💍 1919/1488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Milliner
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Waipukurau
Folio	1190
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

15 February 1919

Philip Edward Hood
Leonie Sowry

Philip Edward Flood
Leonie Sowry
💍 1919/1489

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
19

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

10 years
9 years

Catholic Church Waipukurau

1191

Marmaduke Sowry, Father

15 February 1919

Rev. T. J. Cahill, Catholic Church

No	2
Date of Notice	15 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Edward Hood	Leonie Sowry
BDM Match (95%)	Philip Edward Flood	Leonie Sowry
	💍 1919/1489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Waipukurau
Folio	1191
Consent	Marmaduke Sowry, Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. Cahill, Catholic Church

3 March 1919

Francis Rufus Lucas
Kathleen Maud Young

Francis Rupit Lucas
Kathleen Maud Young
💍 1919/1490

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

38
22

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

7 years
22 years

Church of England Waipukurau

1192

3 March 1919

Rev. A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	3 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Rufus Lucas	Kathleen Maud Young
BDM Match (92%)	Francis Rupit Lucas	Kathleen Maud Young
	💍 1919/1490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Waipukurau
Folio	1192
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

17 March 1919

Percy Alfred Walhoff Biggs
Irene Bernice Poppelwell

Percy Alfred Malhoff Biggs
Irene Bernice Poppelwell
💍 1919/1491

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic Duties

20
20

Dannevirke
Waipukurau

6 weeks
6 days

Dwelling place of her Brother Ethelbert Poppelwell Sir Francis Drake St Waipukurau

1193

Matilda Wilhelmina Biggs Mother, John Poppelwell Father

17 March 1919

Rev. T. Cahill, Catholic Church

No	4
Date of Notice	17 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Alfred Walhoff Biggs	Irene Bernice Poppelwell
BDM Match (98%)	Percy Alfred Malhoff Biggs	Irene Bernice Poppelwell
	💍 1919/1491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling place of her Brother Ethelbert Poppelwell Sir Francis Drake St Waipukurau
Folio	1193
Consent	Matilda Wilhelmina Biggs Mother, John Poppelwell Father
Date of Certificate	17 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Cahill, Catholic Church

20 March 1919

William Gladdens
Muriel Grace Willis

William Giddens
Muriel Grace Willis
💍 1919/1493

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
18

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 months
10 years

Church of England Waipukurau

1194

Minnie Sarah Jane Watts Mother

20 March 1919

Rev. A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	20 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gladdens	Muriel Grace Willis
BDM Match (94%)	William Giddens	Muriel Grace Willis
	💍 1919/1493
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Waipukurau
Folio	1194
Consent	Minnie Sarah Jane Watts Mother
Date of Certificate	20 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

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).