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 1282

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

160

25 November 1919

Charles O'Brien
Mollie Payne

Charles O'Brien
Mollie Payne
💍 1919/8967

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

31
17

Greenmeadows
Meeanee

31 years
17 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

8631

Harry Payne, Father

25 November 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	160
Date of Notice	25 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles O'Brien	Mollie Payne
	💍 1919/8967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	31	17
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Meeanee
Length of Residence	31 years	17 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	8631
Consent	Harry Payne, Father
Date of Certificate	25 November 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

161

26 November 1919

William Perceval O'Neill
Caroline Ann Lee

William Percival O'Neill
Caroline Ann Lee
💍 1919/8968

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

36
30

Napier
Napier

3 days
5 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

8632

26 November 1919

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	161
Date of Notice	26 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Perceval O'Neill	Caroline Ann Lee
BDM Match (98%)	William Percival O'Neill	Caroline Ann Lee
	💍 1919/8968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	8632
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

162

27 November 1919

James Tucker
Emily Cue

James Tucker
Emily Cue
💍 1919/8947

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

34
34

Napier
Napier

10 months
2 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

8633

27 November 1919

Rev. C. S. Rice, Church of England

No	162
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Tucker	Emily Cue
	💍 1919/8947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	8633
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Rice, Church of England

163

29 November 1919

Ihaka Tutu
Herani Pera

Ihaka Tutu
Hirani Pera
💍 1919/8948

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
22

Tangoio
Tangoio

32 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

8634

29 November 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	163
Date of Notice	29 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ihaka Tutu	Herani Pera
BDM Match (95%)	Ihaka Tutu	Hirani Pera
	💍 1919/8948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Tangoio	Tangoio
Length of Residence	32 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	8634
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

164

01 December 1919

Harry Sydney Powell
Mary Ann Kelly

Harry Sydney Powell
Mary Ann Kelly
💍 1919/8949

Bachelor
Widow, 5th June 1919

Flaxmill hand
Nurse

40
48

Napier
Napier

8 days
3 days

Methodist Parsonage, Napier

8635

01 December 1919

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	164
Date of Notice	01 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Sydney Powell	Mary Ann Kelly
	💍 1919/8949
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 5th June 1919
Profession	Flaxmill hand	Nurse
Age	40	48
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Napier
Folio	8635
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

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).