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 1272

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

111

3 September 1919

Major Leonard Boyce
Dorothy Forrest

Major Leonard Boyce
Dorothy Forrest
💍 1919/6331

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Worker
Domestic

21
18

Taradale
Napier

6 years
18 years

Trinity Methodist Church Napier

5785

Sydney Charles Forrest, Father

3 September 1919

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	111
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Major Leonard Boyce	Dorothy Forrest
	💍 1919/6331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Worker	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church Napier
Folio	5785
Consent	Sydney Charles Forrest, Father
Date of Certificate	3 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

112

8 September 1919

Lionel Ernest Lyons
Violet Grange Gamby

Lionel Ernest Lyons
Violet Grange Gamby
💍 1919/6332

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Official
Domestic duties

32
25

Napier
Napier

6 days
20 years

St. John's Cathedral Napier

5786

8 September 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	112
Date of Notice	8 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Ernest Lyons	Violet Grange Gamby
	💍 1919/6332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Official	Domestic duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	5786
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

113

9 September 1919

John Albert Elstone
Mary Frances Moroney

John Albert Elstone
Mary Frances Moroney
💍 1919/6333

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic

27
27

Napier
Napier

2 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Church Napier

5787

9 September 1919

Rev. Father Symons, Roman Catholic

No	113
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Elstone	Mary Frances Moroney
	💍 1919/6333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Napier
Folio	5787
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Symons, Roman Catholic

114

10 September 1919

John Morris
Anna Sullivan

John Morris
Anna Sullivan
💍 1919/6334

Widower 30 November 1918
Widow 24 February 1917

Labourer
Domestic

57
55

Taradale
Napier

43 years
36 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

5788

10 September 1919

Rev. Father Symons, Roman Catholic

No	114
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morris	Anna Sullivan
	💍 1919/6334
Condition	Widower 30 November 1918	Widow 24 February 1917
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	57	55
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	43 years	36 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	5788
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Symons, Roman Catholic

115

12 September 1919

Albert Joseph Painter
Janet Johnson Anderson

Albert Joseph Painter
Janet Johnson Anderson
💍 1919/6335

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

23
27

Napier
Napier

23 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

5789

12 September 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	115
Date of Notice	12 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Joseph Painter	Janet Johnson Anderson
	💍 1919/6335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	5789
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 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).