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 021

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar A. W. Jordan

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

25 January 1918

Frederick Greenfield Ward
Margery Dowle

Frederick Greenfield Ward
Margery Towle
💍 1918/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy orders

41
34

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
18 years

St Mark's Church Remuera

386

25 January 1918

Rt. Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican

No	61
Date of Notice	25 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Greenfield Ward	Margery Dowle
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Greenfield Ward	Margery Towle
	💍 1918/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy orders
Age	41	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	18 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Remuera
Folio	386
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican

25 January 1918

George Howard
Caroline Lowe

George Howard
Caroline Lowe
💍 1918/949

Widower 26 May 1914
Divorced 14 February 1917

Furniture Manufacturer

53
40

Auckland
Auckland

12 days
6 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

387

25 January 1918

Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	25 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Howard	Caroline Lowe
	💍 1918/949
Condition	Widower 26 May 1914	Divorced 14 February 1917
Profession	Furniture Manufacturer
Age	53	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	387
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

25 January 1918

Robert John Padley
Louise Emilie Darrell

Bachelor
Spinster

Provision Assistant

37
25

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
9 months

St Luke's Church Mt Albert

388

25 January 1918

Rev. J. R. Burgin, Anglican

No	63
Date of Notice	25 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Padley	Louise Emilie Darrell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Provision Assistant
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Mt Albert
Folio	388
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin, Anglican

25 January 1918

Josiah Frank Hutchen
Norah McSweeney

Josiah Frank Tutchen
Nora McSweeney
💍 1918/951

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

27
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 weeks
2 years

Roman Catholic Church Devonport

389

25 January 1918

Rev. M. J. Furlong, Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	25 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Frank Hutchen	Norah McSweeney
BDM Match (94%)	Josiah Frank Tutchen	Nora McSweeney
	💍 1918/951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Devonport
Folio	389
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Furlong, Roman Catholic

26 January 1918

William James Lockwood
Lillian Whitehead

William James Lockwood
Lillian Whitehead
💍 1918/952

William John Davies
Amelia Whitehead
💍 1918/1383

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
9 years

St George's Church Penrose

390

26 January 1918

Rev. J. L. Greer, Anglican

No	65
Date of Notice	26 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Lockwood	Lillian Whitehead
	💍 1918/952
BDM Match (61%)	William John Davies	Amelia Whitehead
	💍 1918/1383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church Penrose
Folio	390
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Greer, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).