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 1459

District of Foxton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. Hawke

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

2 July 1919

John Edward Meachem
Mabel Cooks

John Edward Mealem
Mabel Cooke
💍 1919/6417

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Shop assistant

37
27

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
4 weeks

Presbyterian Church Foxton

5870

2 July 1919

Rev. J. W. Bredin

No	8
Date of Notice	2 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Meachem	Mabel Cooks
BDM Match (90%)	John Edward Mealem	Mabel Cooke
	💍 1919/6417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Shop assistant
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Foxton
Folio	5870
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Bredin

7 July 1919

Frank Edward Richardson
Violet Elsie Moffat

Frank Edward Richardson
Violet Elsie Moffat
💍 1919/6418

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
Domestic Duties

36
27

Oroua Downs
Oroua Downs

9 years
16 years

Dwelling Wm Moffat Oroua Downs

5871

7 July 1919

Rev. J. W. Bredin

No	9
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Edward Richardson	Violet Elsie Moffat
	💍 1919/6418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Oroua Downs	Oroua Downs
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling Wm Moffat Oroua Downs
Folio	5871
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Bredin

29 July 1919

Francis Aloysius Mouat
May Evelyn Thomson

Frances Aloysius Mouat
May Evelyn Thomson
💍 1919/6419

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

22
19

Oroua Downs
Oroua Downs

3 days
11 months

Residence Chas James Henry Thomson Oroua Downs

5872

Chas Jas Henry Thomson, Father

29 July 1919

Rev. A. Harding

No	10
Date of Notice	29 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Aloysius Mouat	May Evelyn Thomson
BDM Match (98%)	Frances Aloysius Mouat	May Evelyn Thomson
	💍 1919/6419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Oroua Downs	Oroua Downs
Length of Residence	3 days	11 months
Marriage Place	Residence Chas James Henry Thomson Oroua Downs
Folio	5872
Consent	Chas Jas Henry Thomson, Father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Harding

12 September 1919

Jesse Haigh Thorp
Emma May Florence Rose

Jesse Haigh Thorp
Emma May Florence Rose
💍 1919/6487

Widower
Spinster

Grocer assistant
Domestic Duties

43
30

Foxton
Mangatainoka

13 years
30 years

Registrar's office Pahiatua

5942

12 September 1919

Registrar Pahiatua

No	11
Date of Notice	12 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Haigh Thorp	Emma May Florence Rose
	💍 1919/6487
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocer assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	13 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Pahiatua
Folio	5942
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar Pahiatua

29 September 1919

Harold Leslie King
Gertrude Mary Gardner

Harold Leslie King
Gertrude Mary Gardner
💍 1919/6420

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Dressmaker

24
26

Himatangi
Himatangi

3 days
3 years

Residence Mr Alfred Gardner Himatangi

5873

29 September 1919

Rev. A. Harding

No	12
Date of Notice	29 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Leslie King	Gertrude Mary Gardner
	💍 1919/6420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Dressmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Himatangi	Himatangi
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence Mr Alfred Gardner Himatangi
Folio	5873
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Harding

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).