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 1216

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar G. W. Brown

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

9 December 1919

John Davidson Donaldson
Mabel Jones

John Davidson Donaldson
Mabel Jones
💍 1920/2667

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Draper

24
26

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

9 years
16 years

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

82/1920

Not issued to date 31/12/19

Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Davidson Donaldson	Mabel Jones
	💍 1920/2667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Draper
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	82/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	Not issued to date 31/12/19
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

12 December 1919

Walter Dobson
Ethel Mary Mills

Walter Dobson
Ethel Mary Mills
💍 1919/4639

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Accountant

40
30

Dannevirke
Feilding

17 years
12 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Feilding

8728

12 December 1919

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Dobson	Ethel Mary Mills
	💍 1919/4639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Feilding
Length of Residence	17 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	8728
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

12 December 1919

George Donald McLeod Thorburn
Olive Winifred Milburn

George Donald McLeod Thorburn
Olive Winifred Milburn
💍 1919/8983

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
School Mistress

30
25

Dannevirke
Waipawa

Life
16 years

Presbyterian Church, Waipawa

8669

12 December 1919

Rev. F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	82
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Donald McLeod Thorburn	Olive Winifred Milburn
	💍 1919/8983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	School Mistress
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Waipawa
Length of Residence	Life	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waipawa
Folio	8669
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

15 December 1919

George Coghill
Marie Louise Hindmarsh Robertshawe (Maiden Name: Bolton)

George Coghill
Marie Louise Hindmarsh Robertshawe
💍 1919/8848

Bachelor
Widow, 12 November 1918

Bank Manager
Home Duties

45
27

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

1 year
7 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

8558

15 December 1919

Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

No	83
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Coghill	Marie Louise Hindmarsh Robertshawe (Maiden Name: Bolton)
BDM Match (80%)	George Coghill	Marie Louise Hindmarsh Robertshawe
	💍 1919/8848
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 12 November 1918
Profession	Bank Manager	Home Duties
Age	45	27
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	8558
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

15 December 1919

Fredrick William Brunette
Elizabeth Annie Mitchell

Fredrick William Brunette
Elizabeth Annie Mitchell
💍 1919/8849

Widower, 29 March 1903
Spinster

Carriage Trimmer
Milliner

58
38

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

1 week
3 weeks

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

8559

15 December 1919

Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

No	84
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick William Brunette	Elizabeth Annie Mitchell
	💍 1919/8849
Condition	Widower, 29 March 1903	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Trimmer	Milliner
Age	58	38
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	1 week	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	8559
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).