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 1184

District of Waitara Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. Boland

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 August 1919

Herbert Isaac Elliot
Ina Nellie Gernhofer

Herbert Isaac Elliot
Ina Nellie Gernhoefer
💍 1919/6285

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
25

Waitara
Waitara

3 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Waitara

5689

22 August 1919

Mr Charles E Perkins, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	22 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Isaac Elliot	Ina Nellie Gernhofer
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Isaac Elliot	Ina Nellie Gernhoefer
	💍 1919/6285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waitara
Folio	5689
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr Charles E Perkins, Presbyterian

29 August 1919

Harold John Fitzsimons
Ada Harrison

Harold John Fitzsimons
Ada Harrison
💍 1919/6286

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
23

Waichi Waitara
Waichi Waitara

8 months
1 week

St Johns Church, Waitara

5690

29 August 1919

Rev G H Gavin, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	29 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Fitzsimons	Ada Harrison
	💍 1919/6286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Waichi Waitara	Waichi Waitara
Length of Residence	8 months	1 week
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Waitara
Folio	5690
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G H Gavin, Church of England

30 August 1919

James Jerome Odonnell
Ethel Henriette Mcgregor

James Jerome Odonnell
Ethel Henriette McGregor
💍 1919/6287

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

25
22

Mangatora
Mangatora

24 years
15 years

The Private Residence of Mr J V Mcgregor, Mangatora

5691

30 August 1919

Rev Arthur Harold Barnett, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jerome Odonnell	Ethel Henriette Mcgregor
BDM Match (98%)	James Jerome Odonnell	Ethel Henriette McGregor
	💍 1919/6287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Mangatora	Mangatora
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of Mr J V Mcgregor, Mangatora
Folio	5691
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Arthur Harold Barnett, Church of England

10 September 1919

Alfred Hicks
Laura Rooke

Alfred Hick
Laura Rooke
💍 1919/6288

Widower
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic duties

54
57

Urenui
Urenui

4 1/2 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Waitara

5692

10 September 1919

Rev Frederick B Lawrence, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hicks	Laura Rooke
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred Hick	Laura Rooke
	💍 1919/6288
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	54	57
Dwelling Place	Urenui	Urenui
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Waitara
Folio	5692
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Frederick B Lawrence, Methodist

10 September 1919

Thomas Clinch
Dora Kelly

Thomas Clince
Dora Nally
💍 1919/6251

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
22

Newplymouth
Waitara

1 week
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Newplymouth

5632

10 September 1919

Rev Vincent Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Clinch	Dora Kelly
BDM Match (86%)	Thomas Clince	Dora Nally
	💍 1919/6251
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Newplymouth	Waitara
Length of Residence	1 week	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Newplymouth
Folio	5632
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Vincent Kelly, 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).