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 1054

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar W. J. Farrie

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

18 January 1919

Lyell Charles William Batton
Lucy Violet Martha Evans

Lyell Charles William Catton
Lucy Violet Martha Evans
💍 1919/370

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist's Assistant
Bookkeeper

30
31

Hawera
Wellington

4 1/2 Months
3 1/2 Years

Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie Wellington

119

18 January 1919

Rev W Shirer Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	18 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lyell Charles William Batton	Lucy Violet Martha Evans
BDM Match (98%)	Lyell Charles William Catton	Lucy Violet Martha Evans
	💍 1919/370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist's Assistant	Bookkeeper
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 1/2 Months	3 1/2 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie Wellington
Folio	119
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W Shirer Presbyterian

27 January 1919

Stanley Charles Novell
Ellen Evelyn Gladys Knight

Stanley Charles Novell
Ellen Evelyn Gladys Knight
💍 1919/1116

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

29
27

Hawera
Hawera

4 days
1 year

Presbyterian Church Hawera

1070

27 January 1919

Rev A B Gray Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	27 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Charles Novell	Ellen Evelyn Gladys Knight
	💍 1919/1116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hawera
Folio	1070
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A B Gray Presbyterian

28 February 1919

Richard Henry Leece
Isabella Bell Hunter

Richard Henry Leece
Isabella Bell Hunter
💍 1919/1117

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor & Land Agent
Domestic Duties

32
28

Hawera
Hawera

5 years
28 years

Grounds at Burnside Hawera

1071

28 February 1919

Rev A B Gray Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	28 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Leece	Isabella Bell Hunter
	💍 1919/1117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor & Land Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Grounds at Burnside Hawera
Folio	1071
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A B Gray Presbyterian

11 March 1919

James Watt Ross
Dorothy Winifred Hazlehurst

James Watt Ross
Dorothy Winifred Hazelhurst
💍 1919/1118

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

32
24

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
6 months

Residence of Mrs Hazlehurst Nolan Road Hawera

1072

11 March 1919

Rev A B Gray Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Watt Ross	Dorothy Winifred Hazlehurst
BDM Match (96%)	James Watt Ross	Dorothy Winifred Hazelhurst
	💍 1919/1118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Hazlehurst Nolan Road Hawera
Folio	1072
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A B Gray Presbyterian

18 March 1919

Henry Donald Forsyth
Bertha Martha Harrison

Henry Donald Forsyth
Bertha Martha Harrison
💍 1919/1119

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
34

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
12 years

Church of England Hawera

1073

18 March 1919

Rev C H Grant Cowen Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	18 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Donald Forsyth	Bertha Martha Harrison
	💍 1919/1119
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	34
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hawera
Folio	1073
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 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).