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 1242

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar D. P. Brathwaite

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

17 October 1919

Thomas Alexander Nicoll
Elizabeth Morgan

Thomas Alexander Nicoll
Elizabeth Morgan
💍 1919/8859

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Nurse

39
38

Hastings
Hastings

8 months
20 months

St. Matthews Hastings

8568

17 October 1919

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	92
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Nicoll	Elizabeth Morgan
	💍 1919/8859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Nurse
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	8 months	20 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Hastings
Folio	8568
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

22 October 1919

George Dougall Tod
Jeanie Short

George Dougall Tod
Jeanie Short
💍 1919/8860

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Toll Operator Post Office

32
27

Hastings
Hastings

25 years
10 years

Baptist Church Hastings

8569

22 October 1919

Rev. H. E. Edridge

No	93
Date of Notice	22 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Dougall Tod	Jeanie Short
	💍 1919/8860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Toll Operator Post Office
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Hastings
Folio	8569
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Edridge

22 October 1919

Rudolf Hansen
Ivy Jane Rutherford

Rudolf Hansen
Ivy Jane Rutherford
💍 1919/8861

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchard Work
Domestic duties

32
34

Havelock North
Havelock North

3 days
5 years

Methodist Church Hastings

8570

24 October 1919

Rev. A. N. Bean

No	94
Date of Notice	22 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rudolf Hansen	Ivy Jane Rutherford
	💍 1919/8861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchard Work	Domestic duties
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hastings
Folio	8570
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Bean

24 October 1919

Robert Charles Forster
Winifred May Forrest

Robert Charles Forster
Winifred May Forrest
💍 1919/8862

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer
Domestic duties

35
19

Hastings
Hastings

16 years
3 years

Nurse Smith's Maternity Home Hastings

8571

George Henry Forrest Father

24 October 1919

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	95
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Forster	Winifred May Forrest
	💍 1919/8862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer	Domestic duties
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Nurse Smith's Maternity Home Hastings
Folio	8571
Consent	George Henry Forrest Father
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

24 October 1919

Edwin Alfred Watkins
Gertrude Marie Corbin

Edwin Alfred Watkins
Gertrude Marie Corbin
💍 1919/8863

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic duties

32
27

Hastings
Hastings

8 years
12 years

St. Matthews Hastings

8572

24 October 1919

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	96
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Alfred Watkins	Gertrude Marie Corbin
	💍 1919/8863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Hastings
Folio	8572
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

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).