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 1066

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar S. Howell

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

15 July 1919

Maurice Archibald Gall
Margaret Eleanor St. Paul

Maurice Archibald Gall
Margaret Eleanor St Paul
💍 1919/6164

Bachelor
Widow 20 November 1918

Master Pastryer
Teacher

25
24

Hawera
Hawera

4 days
9 months

Presbyterian Church Hawera

5567

15 July 1919

Rev. A.B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Archibald Gall	Margaret Eleanor St. Paul
BDM Match (98%)	Maurice Archibald Gall	Margaret Eleanor St Paul
	💍 1919/6164
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20 November 1918
Profession	Master Pastryer	Teacher
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hawera
Folio	5567
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.B. Gray, Presbyterian

18 July 1919

Norman Hamilton McKenzie
Frances Elizabeth Purcell

Norman Hamilton McKenzie
Frances Elizabeth Purcell
💍 1919/6165

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Cashier

26
26

Hawera
Hawera

3 weeks
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church Hawera

5568

18 July 1919

Rev. A.B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	18 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Hamilton McKenzie	Frances Elizabeth Purcell
	💍 1919/6165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Cashier
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hawera
Folio	5568
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.B. Gray, Presbyterian

25 July 1919

John Unsworth
Madge Dawson

John Unsworth
Madge Dawson
💍 1919/7136

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

28
24

Hawera
Hawera

3 months
4 years

Church of England Hawera

6647

25 July 1919

Rev. C.H. Grant Cowen, Anglican

No	52
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Unsworth	Madge Dawson
	💍 1919/7136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hawera
Folio	6647
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.H. Grant Cowen, Anglican

26 July 1919

Lawrence William Hunwick
Winifred Muriel Keen

Lawrence William Hunwick
Winifred Muriel Keen
💍 1919/6166

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Milliner

23
23

Whakamara
Hawera

4 years
23 years

Methodist Church Hawera

5569

26 July 1919

Rev. A Liversedge, Methodist

No	53
Date of Notice	26 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence William Hunwick	Winifred Muriel Keen
	💍 1919/6166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Milliner
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Whakamara	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hawera
Folio	5569
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A Liversedge, Methodist

28 July 1919

Archie John Clare
Beatrice Pearl Judson

Archie John Clare
Beatrice Pearl Judson
💍 1919/7137

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Waitress

29
19

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
2 years

Church of England Hawera

6648

James Judson Father

28 July 1919

Rev. C.H. Grant Cowen, Anglican

No	54
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archie John Clare	Beatrice Pearl Judson
	💍 1919/7137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Waitress
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hawera
Folio	6648
Consent	James Judson Father
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.H. Grant Cowen, Anglican

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).