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 1280

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

150

13 November 1919

George Arthur Amundson
Mary Ellen Shirley

George Arthur Amundson
Mary Ellen Shirley
💍 1919/8937

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
18

Eskdale
Petane

7 years
17 years

Registrars Office Napier

8621

Harriet Shirley Mother

13 November 1919

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	150
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Amundson	Mary Ellen Shirley
	💍 1919/8937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Eskdale	Petane
Length of Residence	7 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Napier
Folio	8621
Consent	Harriet Shirley Mother
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

151

14 November 1919

James Pegram
Florence Edith Prebble

James Pegram
Florence Edith Prebble
💍 1919/8938

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Fruiterer

34
33

Napier
Napier

6 months
10 years

St Augustines Church Napier

8622

14 November 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

No	151
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pegram	Florence Edith Prebble
	💍 1919/8938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Fruiterer
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church Napier
Folio	8622
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

152

15 November 1919

William Ewen Louden
Florence Hereford Alice Brown

William Ewen Louden
Florence Hereford Alice Brown
💍 1919/8946

Bachelor
Spinster

Farrier
Housekeeper

35
25

Petane
Petane

5 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. Brown Petane

8623

15 November 1919

Rev. J. Hay Presbyterian

No	152
Date of Notice	15 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ewen Louden	Florence Hereford Alice Brown
	💍 1919/8946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farrier	Housekeeper
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Petane	Petane
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Brown Petane
Folio	8623
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay Presbyterian

153

18 November 1919

James Davidson Grant
Mary Toomey

James Davidson Grant
Mary Toomey
💍 1919/8957

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

23
20

Napier
Napier

1 week
2 weeks

St. Patricks Church Napier

8624

Timothy Toomey Father

18 November 1919

Rev. Father Symons Roman Catholic

No	153
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Davidson Grant	Mary Toomey
	💍 1919/8957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 week	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	8624
Consent	Timothy Toomey Father
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Symons Roman Catholic

154

20 November 1919

Malachy Francis O'Donnell
Kathleen O'Connor

Malachy Francis O'Donnell
Kathleen O'Connor
💍 1919/8962

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic

22
21

Napier
Napier

10 months
9 months

St. Patricks Church Napier

8625

20 November 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	154
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malachy Francis O'Donnell	Kathleen O'Connor
	💍 1919/8962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	8625
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

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).