Intentions to Marry, 1918 Albertland to Kohukohu

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840475, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1918a contains pages 1-432, covering districts from Albertland to Kohukohu

Page 017

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar [illegible]

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

16 January 1918

Donald Vincent Piper
Kathleen Rose Ferrars Nicholson

Donald Vincent Piper
Kathleen Rose Ferrars Nicholson
💍 1918/158

Bachelor
Spinster

2nd Lieut N.Z.E.F.

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
23 yrs

House of Mrs F. Downes, 18 Shore Rd, Devonport

386

16 January 1918

Rev J. Furlong, Roman Catholic

No	41
Date of Notice	16 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Vincent Piper	Kathleen Rose Ferrars Nicholson
	💍 1918/158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	2nd Lieut N.Z.E.F.
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	23 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Mrs F. Downes, 18 Shore Rd, Devonport
Folio	386
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Furlong, Roman Catholic

17 January 1918

William John Turner
Elizabeth Mackenzie Jack

William John Kurney
Elizabeth Mackay Jack
💍 1918/159

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

25
27

Auckland
Auckland

1 mth
2 yrs

Methodist Church, Mountain Rd, Newmarket

367

17 January 1918

Rev J. Wrigley, Methodist

No	42
Date of Notice	17 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Turner	Elizabeth Mackenzie Jack
BDM Match (84%)	William John Kurney	Elizabeth Mackay Jack
	💍 1918/159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 mth	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mountain Rd, Newmarket
Folio	367
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Wrigley, Methodist

17 January 1918

Robert Laufer Brunton
Elizabeth Knight

Robert Langley Brunton
Elizabeth Wright
💍 1918/160

Widower 6 Oct 1909
Spinster

Contractor

48
21

Auckland
Auckland

1 mth
2 mths

Registrar's Office, Auckland

368

17 January 1918

Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	17 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Laufer Brunton	Elizabeth Knight
BDM Match (85%)	Robert Langley Brunton	Elizabeth Wright
	💍 1918/160
Condition	Widower 6 Oct 1909	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	48	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 mth	2 mths
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	368
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

18 January 1918

Adam Rouse Sewell
Catherine Margaret McNeil

Adam George Lewell
Catherine Margaret McNeil
💍 1918/161

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Tram Conductor

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

6 yrs
12 yrs

St Matthews Church, Auckland

369

18 January 1918

Rev W. E. Gillam, Anglican

No	44
Date of Notice	18 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Rouse Sewell	Catherine Margaret McNeil
BDM Match (86%)	Adam George Lewell	Catherine Margaret McNeil
	💍 1918/161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Tram Conductor
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 yrs	12 yrs
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	369
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. E. Gillam, Anglican

18 January 1918

Samuel Thomas Morrissey
Ada Jarrett

Samuel Thomas Morrisey
Ada Garrett
💍 1918/163

Bachelor
Divorced 6 Sept 1916

Driver

32
34

Auckland
Auckland

12 yrs
10 yrs

House of Bride's Mother, 4 East St, Newton

370

18 January 1918

Rev E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	45
Date of Notice	18 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Thomas Morrissey	Ada Jarrett
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Thomas Morrisey	Ada Garrett
	💍 1918/163
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 6 Sept 1916
Profession	Driver
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Mother, 4 East St, Newton
Folio	370
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E. D. Patchett, Methodist

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).