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 1262

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

5 June 1919

John William Owen
Violet Amelia Bush

John William Owen
Violet Amelia Bush
💍 1919/1391

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic

26
17

Napier
Napier

9 months
4 years

Registrar's Office Napier

3292

Alfred George Bush, Father

5 June 1919

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	5 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Owen	Violet Amelia Bush
	💍 1919/1391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	3292
Consent	Alfred George Bush, Father
Date of Certificate	5 June 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

6 June 1919

Donald Peter McCallum
Ruby Emily Dennett

Donald Peter McCallum
Ruby Emily Dennett
💍 1919/1392

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

20
19

Napier
Napier

20 years
1 year

St. Patrick's Church Napier

3293

No one to give consent [Groom]; Henry Edward Dennett Father [Bride]

20 June 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	6 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Peter McCallum	Ruby Emily Dennett
	💍 1919/1392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	3293
Consent	No one to give consent [Groom]; Henry Edward Dennett Father [Bride]
Date of Certificate	20 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

9 June 1919

Andrew Edmond McMahon
Evelyn Florence Hanneffy

Andrew Edmond McMahon
Evelyn Florence Hanneffy
💍 1919/1393

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Domestic Duties

32
28

Napier
Napier

4 days
18 months

St. Patricks Church Napier

3294

9 June 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	9 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Edmond McMahon	Evelyn Florence Hanneffy
	💍 1919/1393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Domestic Duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3294
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

9 June 1919

Walter Hainsworth
Mary Jane Denford

Walter Hainsworth
Mary Jane Denford
💍 1919/1394

Bachelor
Widow 29 Dec 1913

Brickmaker
Domestic Duties

43
43

Marton Junction
Napier

5 months
6 months

St. Augustines' Church Napier

3295

9 June 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs Church of England

No	65
Date of Notice	9 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hainsworth	Mary Jane Denford
	💍 1919/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 29 Dec 1913
Profession	Brickmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	43	43
Dwelling Place	Marton Junction	Napier
Length of Residence	5 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustines' Church Napier
Folio	3295
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs Church of England

16 June 1919

Howard Smith Lorimer
Margaret Mary Aldridge

Howard Smith Lorimer
Margaret Mary Aldridge
💍 1919/1395

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
25

Napier
Awatoto

4 days
25 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

3296

16 June 1919

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	66
Date of Notice	16 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Smith Lorimer	Margaret Mary Aldridge
	💍 1919/1395
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Awatoto
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3296
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 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).