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 1440

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar J. B. 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

22 April 1919

Reginald Bealey Williams
Maria Helen Levett

Reginald Bealey William
Maud Helen Levett
💍 1919/3478

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

31
29

Kiwitea
Kiwitea

2 days
29 years

Anglican Church, Kiwitea

3437

22 April 1919

Rev. J. F. Mayo, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Bealey Williams	Maria Helen Levett
BDM Match (90%)	Reginald Bealey William	Maud Helen Levett
	💍 1919/3478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Kiwitea	Kiwitea
Length of Residence	2 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Kiwitea
Folio	3437
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Mayo, Anglican

25 April 1919

William John Stephenson
Florence Mary Laing

William John Stephenson
Florence Mary Laing
💍 1919/3479

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Household Duties

48
34

Feilding
Feilding

5 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Feilding

3438

25 April 1919

J. B. Broadfoot, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	25 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Stephenson	Florence Mary Laing
	💍 1919/3479
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Household Duties
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Feilding
Folio	3438
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1919
Officiating Minister	J. B. Broadfoot, Registrar

8 May 1919

Harold Arthur Fraser
Myrtle Ivy Townsend

Harold Arthur Fraser
Myrtle Ivy Townsend
💍 1919/3480

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic
Domestic Duties

22
21

Feilding
Feilding

10 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Feilding

3439

8 May 1919

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	8 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Arthur Fraser	Myrtle Ivy Townsend
	💍 1919/3480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	3439
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

15 May 1919

Sydney Robert Perry Taylor
Doris Laura Jones

Sydney Robert Perry Taylor
Mavis Laura Jones
💍 1919/3481

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
21

Kiwitea
Feilding

28 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Feilding

3440

15 May 1919

Rev. P. J. Cossum, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	15 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Robert Perry Taylor	Doris Laura Jones
BDM Match (91%)	Sydney Robert Perry Taylor	Mavis Laura Jones
	💍 1919/3481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Kiwitea	Feilding
Length of Residence	28 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Feilding
Folio	3440
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cossum, Methodist

13 May 1919

Kenneth Ancel McDougall
Margaret Edith Turner

Kenneth Ancel McDougall
Margaret Edith Turner
💍 1919/3482

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

21
21

Kiwitea
Kiwitea

4 years
1 year

Anglican Church, Kiwitea

3441

13 May 1919

Rev. J. F. Mayo, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	13 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Ancel McDougall	Margaret Edith Turner
	💍 1919/3482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Kiwitea	Kiwitea
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Kiwitea
Folio	3441
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Mayo, Anglican

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).