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 1256

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

11 April 1919

Robert Pufflett
Maggie Muir Clark

Robert Puflett
Maggie Muir Clark
💍 1919/3954

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect + Engineer
Clerk

31
35

Napier
Lyttelton

3 days
10 years

St John's Presbyterian Church Lyttelton

3866

11 April 1919

Rev. Todd, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Pufflett	Maggie Muir Clark
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Puflett	Maggie Muir Clark
	💍 1919/3954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect + Engineer	Clerk
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church Lyttelton
Folio	3866
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Todd, Presbyterian

12 April 1919

John Alexander McMillan
Florence Beatrice Oliver

John Alexander McMillan
Florence Beatrice Oliver
💍 1919/3378

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

39
31

Napier
Napier

2 months
30 years

St Paul's Church Napier

3316

12 April 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander McMillan	Florence Beatrice Oliver
	💍 1919/3378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 months	30 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Napier
Folio	3316
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

14 April 1919

Edward Neville Coleman Clarkson
Ruth Ethel Waterhouse

Edward Neville Coleman Clarkson
Ruth Ethel Waterhouse
💍 1919/3379

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Hospital Nurse

30
27

Glen Doone
Mangawhare

6 years
20 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

3317

14 April 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Neville Coleman Clarkson	Ruth Ethel Waterhouse
	💍 1919/3379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Hospital Nurse
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Glen Doone	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	3317
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

16 April 1919

George Rhodes
May Ethel Elizabeth Peat

George Rhodes
May Ethel Elizabeth Peat
💍 1919/3380

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

28
26

Napier
Napier

3 days
11 years

Congregational Church Napier

3318

16 April 1919

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	35
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rhodes	May Ethel Elizabeth Peat
	💍 1919/3380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Napier
Folio	3318
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

17 April 1919

John Noblett
Mary Philomena Sullivan

John Noblett
Mary Philomena Sullivan
💍 1919/3381

Divorced 3rd March 1919
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

24
21

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 years

St Patrick's Church Napier

3319

17 April 1919

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	17 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Noblett	Mary Philomena Sullivan
	💍 1919/3381
Condition	Divorced 3rd March 1919	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	3319
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 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).