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 1284

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

170

15 December 1919

Frederick John Smith
Lilian Alice Edwards

Frederick John Smith
Lillian Alice Edwards
💍 1919/8955

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarry Foreman
Domestic

38
30

Napier
Napier

9 years
9 years

Residence of Mrs. Martin, Thackeray Street, Napier

8641

15 December 1919

Adjutant Gibbs, Salvation Army

No	170
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Smith	Lilian Alice Edwards
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick John Smith	Lillian Alice Edwards
	💍 1919/8955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarry Foreman	Domestic
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Martin, Thackeray Street, Napier
Folio	8641
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Adjutant Gibbs, Salvation Army

171

15 December 1919

George James Goldicutt
Mary Elizabeth Spencer

George James Coldicutt
Mary Elizabeth Spencer
💍 1920/2648

Bachelor
Widow 10-7-19

Driver
Domestic Duties

29
27

Napier
Napier

3 years
27 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

87/1920

15 December 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	171
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Goldicutt	Mary Elizabeth Spencer
BDM Match (98%)	George James Coldicutt	Mary Elizabeth Spencer
	💍 1920/2648
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 10-7-19
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	87/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

172

16 December 1919

Archie Cameron
Ida Bonnyman

Archie Cameron
Ida Bonnyman
💍 1919/8956

Bachelor
Spinster

Road Contractor
Domestic Duties

25
26

Napier
Napier

5 weeks
6 months

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

8642

16 December 1919

Rev. Archdeacon Simkin, Church of England

No	172
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archie Cameron	Ida Bonnyman
	💍 1919/8956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Road Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	8642
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Simkin, Church of England

173

16 December 1919

Trevor Morrin Geddis
Myra Haslett Kingland

Trevor Morrin Geddis
Myra Haslett Ringland
💍 1919/8958

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic Duties

29
21

Napier
Napier

9 years
21 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

8643

16 December 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	173
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Morrin Geddis	Myra Haslett Kingland
BDM Match (98%)	Trevor Morrin Geddis	Myra Haslett Ringland
	💍 1919/8958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	8643
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

174

19 December 1919

George Graham Campbell
Elizabeth Martha Ferguson Arlow

George Graham Campbell
Elizabeth Martha Ferguson Arlow
💍 1919/8959

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Saleswoman

31
35

Napier
Napier

6 months
2 years

St. Paul's Manse, Napier

8644

19 December 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	174
Date of Notice	19 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Graham Campbell	Elizabeth Martha Ferguson Arlow
	💍 1919/8959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Saleswoman
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Manse, Napier
Folio	8644
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, 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).