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 1493

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. W. Percy

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

15 October 1919

Lancelot West Prouse
Martha Lena Milnes

Lancelot West Prouse
Martha Lena Milnes
💍 1919/9040

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
24

Levin
Levin

24 years
24 years

Residence of Mrs George Milnes, Bath St, Levin

8753

15 October 1919

M. Bowden Harris, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	15 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lancelot West Prouse	Martha Lena Milnes
	💍 1919/9040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs George Milnes, Bath St, Levin
Folio	8753
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1919
Officiating Minister	M. Bowden Harris, Presbyterian

31 October 1919

George William Gardner
Linda May Broadbelt

George William Gardner
Linda May Broadbelt
💍 1919/9041

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

26
22

Kakatara
Kakatara

7 days
22 years

Century Hall, Levin

8754

31 October 1919

Rev. J. H. Haslam, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	31 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Gardner	Linda May Broadbelt
	💍 1919/9041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Kakatara	Kakatara
Length of Residence	7 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Century Hall, Levin
Folio	8754
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Haslam, Methodist

8 December 1919

Tamehana Ripihia
Te Aue Tohara

Tamehana Ripikoi Hughes
Te Awe Tohaia
💍 1919/9042

Bachelor
Spinster

Native Land Agent
Domestic Duties

43
19

Levin
Levin

3 weeks
life

The Registrar's Office, Levin

8755

Ngahuri Tohara, mother

8 December 1919

R. W. Percy, Registrar, Levin

No	20
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tamehana Ripihia	Te Aue Tohara
BDM Match (73%)	Tamehana Ripikoi Hughes	Te Awe Tohaia
	💍 1919/9042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Native Land Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	43	19
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	life
Marriage Place	The Registrar's Office, Levin
Folio	8755
Consent	Ngahuri Tohara, mother
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	R. W. Percy, Registrar, Levin

11 December 1919

Herbert Stanley Stratton
Grace Emily Rastrick

Herbert Harley Stratton
Grace Emily Rastrick
💍 1919/9043

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
18

Ohau
Ohau

14 years
4 years

The Registrar's Office, Levin

8756

John Stratton, Father & Alfred Joseph Rastrick, Father

11 December 1919

R. W. Percy, Registrar, Levin

No	21
Date of Notice	11 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Stanley Stratton	Grace Emily Rastrick
BDM Match (94%)	Herbert Harley Stratton	Grace Emily Rastrick
	💍 1919/9043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Ohau	Ohau
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Registrar's Office, Levin
Folio	8756
Consent	John Stratton, Father & Alfred Joseph Rastrick, Father
Date of Certificate	11 December 1919
Officiating Minister	R. W. Percy, Registrar, Levin

12 December 1919

Kenneth Ernest Adams
Jessie Whittaker

Kenneth Ernest Adams
Jessie Whittaker
💍 1919/8497

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Home Duties

25
22

Levin
Wellington

7 months
6 years

Church of England, Brooklyn

8129

12 December 1919

Rev. G. W. Dent, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Ernest Adams	Jessie Whittaker
	💍 1919/8497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Home Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Brooklyn
Folio	8129
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).