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 1442

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar J. G. Broadfoot

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

29 May 1919

Robert McConkey
Elizabeth Warren

Robert McConkey
Elizabeth Warren
💍 1919/3489

Widower
Widow

Carpenter
Home duties

44
32

Feilding
Feilding

4 years
6 months

Residence of Mrs Hanes, Feilding

3417

29 May 1919

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	29 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McConkey	Elizabeth Warren
	💍 1919/3489
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Home duties
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Hanes, Feilding
Folio	3417
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

2 June 1919

Douglas Gordon Forlong
Maggie Anderson Black

Douglas Gordon Forlong
Maggie Anderson Black
💍 1919/3490

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
23

Bunnythorpe
Feilding

10 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Post Office, Feilding

3418

2 June 1919

J. G. Broadfoot, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Gordon Forlong	Maggie Anderson Black
	💍 1919/3490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Feilding
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Post Office, Feilding
Folio	3418
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	J. G. Broadfoot, Registrar

2 June 1919

Cyril Charles Pinney
Margaret May Bishop

Cyril Charles Penney
Margaret Mafeking Bishop
💍 1919/3548

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Home duties

23
19

Feilding
Feilding

8 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Feilding

3419

Margaret Bishop, mother

2 June 1919

Rev. M. M. O'Dwyer, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Charles Pinney	Margaret May Bishop
BDM Match (85%)	Cyril Charles Penney	Margaret Mafeking Bishop
	💍 1919/3548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Home duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Feilding
Folio	3419
Consent	Margaret Bishop, mother
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. M. O'Dwyer, Roman Catholic

2 June 1919

Ernest Edward O'Neale
Johanna Collins

Ernest Edward O'Neale
Johanna Collins
💍 1919/3559

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

41
32

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Feilding

3450

2 June 1919

Rev. M. M. O'Dwyer, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward O'Neale	Johanna Collins
	💍 1919/3559
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Feilding
Folio	3450
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. M. O'Dwyer, Roman Catholic

3 June 1919

Harold Richard Bowater
Doris Evaline Estelle Pratt

Harold Richard Bowater
Doris Evaline Estelle Wratt
💍 1919/3566

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic duties

41
20

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
20 years

Baptist Church, Feilding

3451

John Arthur Pratt, [illegible] Father

3 June 1919

Rev. G. D. Gardiner, Baptist

No	24
Date of Notice	3 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Richard Bowater	Doris Evaline Estelle Pratt
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Richard Bowater	Doris Evaline Estelle Wratt
	💍 1919/3566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic duties
Age	41	20
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Feilding
Folio	3451
Consent	John Arthur Pratt, [illegible] Father
Date of Certificate	3 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. D. Gardiner, Baptist

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).