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 1068

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar S. H. Ames

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

21 August 1919

William Brian La Mothe Williams
Josephine Ann A'Court

William Bryan La Mothe Williams
Josephine Ann A'Court
💍 1919/6173

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

26
36

Meremere
Hawera

26 years
36 years

Residence of W. A'Court, Lake Road, Hawera

5575

21 August 1919

Rev. A. Liversedge, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	21 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brian La Mothe Williams	Josephine Ann A'Court
BDM Match (98%)	William Bryan La Mothe Williams	Josephine Ann A'Court
	💍 1919/6173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	26	36
Dwelling Place	Meremere	Hawera
Length of Residence	26 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. A'Court, Lake Road, Hawera
Folio	5575
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Liversedge, Methodist

26 August 1919

Samuel Carson Bankhead
Edith Alberta Hodge

Samuel Carson Bankhead
Edith Alberta Hodge
💍 1919/6181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
27

Hawera
Hawera

2 months
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

5576

26 August 1919

Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	26 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Carson Bankhead	Edith Alberta Hodge
	💍 1919/6181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	5576
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

29 August 1919

John Murphy
Jessie Barnes

John Murphy
Jessie Barnes
💍 1919/6192

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

29
24

Meremere
Meremere

6 months
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

5577

29 August 1919

Rev. Dean P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

No	62
Date of Notice	29 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murphy	Jessie Barnes
	💍 1919/6192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Meremere	Meremere
Length of Residence	6 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	5577
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

1 September 1919

Wilson Cunningham
Amelia Ellen Mander

Wilson Cunningham
Amelia Ellen Mander
💍 1919/6199

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

35
26

Hawera
Hawera

5 days
4 years

Methodist Church, Hawera

5578

1 September 1919

Rev. A. Liversedge, Methodist

No	63
Date of Notice	1 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilson Cunningham	Amelia Ellen Mander
	💍 1919/6199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hawera
Folio	5578
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Liversedge, Methodist

4 September 1919

James Caldwell
Annie Elizabeth Luxton

James Caldwell
Annie Elizabeth Luxton
💍 1919/6200

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

34
34

Hawera
Hawera

8 months
7 years

Residence of Mrs Luxton, Lantham Street, Hawera

5579

4 September 1919

Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	4 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Caldwell	Annie Elizabeth Luxton
	💍 1919/6200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	8 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Luxton, Lantham Street, Hawera
Folio	5579
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

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).