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 1018

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar F. Bird

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 April 1919

Alfred James Churches
Margaret Rust Spencer

Alfred James Churches
Margaret Rust Spencer
💍 1919/1410

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Nurse

28
26

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
12 years

Presbyterian Church Whangarei

3390

22 April 1919

Rev. G. W. Lochore Presbyterian Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Churches	Margaret Rust Spencer
	💍 1919/1410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Nurse
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Whangarei
Folio	3390
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore Presbyterian Minister

26 April 1919

Ralph Stanley Carter
Kathleen Chadwin

Ralph Stanley Carter
Kathleen Chadwin
💍 1919/1411

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

30
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

30 years
23 years

Church of England Whangarei

3391

26 April 1919

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank Church of England Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Stanley Carter	Kathleen Chadwin
	💍 1919/1411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	3391
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank Church of England Minister

30 April 1919

John William Bennett
Minnie Carpenter

John William Bennett
Minnie Carpenter
💍 1919/1412

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Waitress

29
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

18 months
3 years

Roman Catholic Church Whangarei

3392

30 April 1919

Rev. J. Zanna Roman Catholic Priest

No	14
Date of Notice	30 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Bennett	Minnie Carpenter
	💍 1919/1412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Waitress
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Whangarei
Folio	3392
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Zanna Roman Catholic Priest

08 May 1919

William James Brydon
Edna Ethel James

William James Brydon
Edna Ethel James
💍 1919/1413

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

25
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 1/2 years
20 years

Residence of Mr H. Branford Whau Valley Road Whangarei

3393

Herbert John James Father

08 May 1919

Rev. G. W. Lochore Presbyterian Minister

No	15
Date of Notice	08 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Brydon	Edna Ethel James
	💍 1919/1413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. Branford Whau Valley Road Whangarei
Folio	3393
Consent	Herbert John James Father
Date of Certificate	08 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore Presbyterian Minister

12 May 1919

Sidney Charles Jeffery
Annie Vene Hook

Sidney Charles Jeffery
Annie Neve Hook
💍 1919/1415

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

35
17

Whangarei
Whangarei

7 years
5 years

Registrars Office Whangarei

3394

Richard Hook Father

12 May 1919

F. Bird Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	12 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Charles Jeffery	Annie Vene Hook
BDM Match (93%)	Sidney Charles Jeffery	Annie Neve Hook
	💍 1919/1415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	35	17
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Whangarei
Folio	3394
Consent	Richard Hook Father
Date of Certificate	12 May 1919
Officiating Minister	F. Bird Registrar

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).