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 1343

District of Waipukurau Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar D. Macdonald

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 October 1919

Andrew Giffney
Annie Gertrude Butcher

Andrew Giffney
Annie Gertrude Butcher
💍 1919/8985

Bachelor
Widow

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

46
33

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 months
3 days

Church of England, Waipukurau

8671

14 October 1919

Rev J. Farley, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	14 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Giffney	Annie Gertrude Butcher
	💍 1919/8985
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waipukurau
Folio	8671
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Farley, Church of England

22 October 1919

Bryce Stoddart
Eva Francis Sainsbury

Bryce Stoddart
Eva Frances Sainsbury
💍 1919/9147

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
19

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 days
19 years

Church of England, Waipukurau

8672

Robert Glass Sainsbury, Father

22 October 1919

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

No	16
Date of Notice	22 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bryce Stoddart	Eva Francis Sainsbury
BDM Match (98%)	Bryce Stoddart	Eva Frances Sainsbury
	💍 1919/9147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waipukurau
Folio	8672
Consent	Robert Glass Sainsbury, Father
Date of Certificate	22 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

19 November 1919

Jack Russell
Constance Frances Rood

Jack Russell
Constance Frances Rood
💍 1919/9158

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
23

Hatuma
Hatuma

4 years
16 years

St Marys Church of England, Waipukurau

8673

19 November 1919

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

No	17
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Russell	Constance Frances Rood
	💍 1919/9158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Hatuma	Hatuma
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church of England, Waipukurau
Folio	8673
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

2 December 1919

Herbert Pringle
Meta Clarisa Paget

Herbert Pringle
Meta Clarisa Paget
💍 1919/9165

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

29
26

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 days
3 1/2 years

St Marys Church of England, Waipukurau

8674

2 December 1919

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

No	18
Date of Notice	2 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Pringle	Meta Clarisa Paget
	💍 1919/9165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 days	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church of England, Waipukurau
Folio	8674
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

3 December 1919

Henry James Epps
Margaret Victoria Syme

Henry James Epps
Margaret Victoria Syme
💍 1919/9166

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

27
24

Hatuma
Hatuma

3 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Waipukurau

8675

3 December 1919

Rev C. Connor, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	3 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Epps	Margaret Victoria Syme
	💍 1919/9166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hatuma	Hatuma
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waipukurau
Folio	8675
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Connor, Presbyterian

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).