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 1258

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar H. 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

22 April 1919

Egmont Travers
Elizabeth Ann Monaghan

Egmont Travers
Elizabeth Ann Monaghan
💍 1919/5007

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic Duties

22
21

Napier
Pakowhai

6 days
21 years

Roman Catholic Church Meeanee

4213

22 April 1919

Rev. Father Hickson, Roman Catholic

No	42
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Egmont Travers	Elizabeth Ann Monaghan
	💍 1919/5007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Pakowhai
Length of Residence	6 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Meeanee
Folio	4213
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hickson, Roman Catholic

23 April 1919

George Washington Brown
Dorothy Dalzell Bowden

George Washington Brown
Dorothy Dalzell Bowden
💍 1919/3388

Bachelor
Spinster

Sanitary Engineer
Typist

32
28

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 weeks

St. Pauls Church Napier

3325

23 April 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Washington Brown	Dorothy Dalzell Bowden
	💍 1919/3388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sanitary Engineer	Typist
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church Napier
Folio	3325
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

23 April 1919

Ronald McDonald
Ida Margaret Harding

Ronald McDonald
Ida Margaret Harding
💍 1919/3396

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
28

Napier
Napier

4 days
28 years

The Manse Lincoln Road Napier

3326

23 April 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald McDonald	Ida Margaret Harding
	💍 1919/3396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	28 years
Marriage Place	The Manse Lincoln Road Napier
Folio	3326
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

24 April 1919

Frederick Richard Sweetapple
Elizabeth Henry

Frederick Richard Sweetapple
Elizabeth Henry
💍 1919/3407

Widower 18th May 1918
Widow 17th October 1907

Cordial Maker
Dressmaker

40
40

Napier
Napier

40 years
39 years

Catholic Presbytery Napier

3327

24 April 1919

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	45
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Richard Sweetapple	Elizabeth Henry
	💍 1919/3407
Condition	Widower 18th May 1918	Widow 17th October 1907
Profession	Cordial Maker	Dressmaker
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	40 years	39 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery Napier
Folio	3327
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

28 April 1919

Thomas Allsup
Mary Philadelphia Arnold

James Allsup
Mary Philadelphia Arnold
💍 1919/3413

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Napier
Napier

4 days
22 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

3328

28 April 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Allsup	Mary Philadelphia Arnold
BDM Match (85%)	James Allsup	Mary Philadelphia Arnold
	💍 1919/3413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	3328
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

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).