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 1278

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

140

3 November 1919

George Woodthorpe Bousfield
Catherine Monica Falvey

George Woodthorpe Bousfield
Catherine Monica Falvey
💍 1919/8926

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer's Assistant
Journalist

35
22

Napier
Napier

5 days
22 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

8611

3 November 1919

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	140
Date of Notice	3 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Woodthorpe Bousfield	Catherine Monica Falvey
	💍 1919/8926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer's Assistant	Journalist
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	8611
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

141

5 November 1919

Albert Edward Sharp
Eva Sarah McKain

Albert Edward Sharp
Eva Sarah McKain
💍 1919/8927

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

34
47

Napier
Napier

10 years
47 years

32 Perkins Street Napier

8612

5 November 1919

Edward Gibbs, Salvation Army

No	141
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Sharp	Eva Sarah McKain
	💍 1919/8927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	34	47
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	47 years
Marriage Place	32 Perkins Street Napier
Folio	8612
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Edward Gibbs, Salvation Army

142

5 November 1919

William Hillson Hendry
Agnes Read Hodge

William Willson Hendry
Agnes Read Hodge
💍 1919/8928

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier
Domestic Duties

32
29

Napier
Napier

4 days
7 years

Miller Memorial Church Napier

8613

5 November 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hillson Hendry	Agnes Read Hodge
BDM Match (98%)	William Willson Hendry	Agnes Read Hodge
	💍 1919/8928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier	Domestic Duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Miller Memorial Church Napier
Folio	8613
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

143

5 November 1919

William Raymond Palmer
Rose Ethel Hawkins

William Raymond Palmer
Rose Ethel Hawkins
💍 1919/8929

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Shop Assistant

27
24

Napier
Napier

5 years
4 years

St. Augustines' Church Napier

8614

5 November 1919

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	143
Date of Notice	5 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Raymond Palmer	Rose Ethel Hawkins
	💍 1919/8929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Shop Assistant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines' Church Napier
Folio	8614
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

144

7 November 1919

Percival Oliver
Grace Syme Morrison

Percival Oliver
Grace Syme Morrison
💍 1919/8930

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
28

Napier
Poraite

30 years
28 years

Residence of James Morrison Poraite

8615

7 November 1919

Rev. C. Connor, Presbyterian

No	144
Date of Notice	7 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Oliver	Grace Syme Morrison
	💍 1919/8930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Poraite
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Morrison Poraite
Folio	8615
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Connor, 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).