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 033

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar A. H. P. Corry

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

121

18 February 1918

Louis Podger
Fanny Elizabeth Harding

Louis Godfrey
Fanny Elizabeth Harding
💍 1918/984

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

59
42

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

446

18 February 1918

Registrar

No	121
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Podger	Fanny Elizabeth Harding
BDM Match (85%)	Louis Godfrey	Fanny Elizabeth Harding
	💍 1918/984
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	59	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	446
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

122

18 February 1918

Frederick William Smith
Elsie Rita McWilliams

George Frederick William Smith
Elsie Rita McWilliams
💍 1918/985

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager

30
20

Hamilton
Auckland

10 months
5 years

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

447

Samuel McWilliams, Father

18 February 1918

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

No	122
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Smith	Elsie Rita McWilliams
BDM Match (88%)	George Frederick William Smith	Elsie Rita McWilliams
	💍 1918/985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	447
Consent	Samuel McWilliams, Father
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

123

19 February 1918

Clarence David Jones
Vine Louisa Gifford

Clarence David Jones
Vine Louisa Gifford
💍 1918/986

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

22
24

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Franklin Road, Auckland

448

19 February 1918

Rev. W. A. Burley, Methodist

No	123
Date of Notice	19 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence David Jones	Vine Louisa Gifford
	💍 1918/986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Franklin Road, Auckland
Folio	448
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Burley, Methodist

124

19 February 1918

Hugh MacDonald
Jessie Dobie Mace

Hugh MacDonald
Jessie Dobie Mace
💍 1918/994

Widower
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

49
33

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
5 months

St Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

449

19 February 1918

Ven. Archdeacon MacMurray, Anglican

No	124
Date of Notice	19 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh MacDonald	Jessie Dobie Mace
	💍 1918/994
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	49	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	449
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon MacMurray, Anglican

125

19 February 1918

Edward Penlivel Eliott
Gladys Marion Neal

Edward Glenlivit Eliott
Gladys Marion Neal
💍 1918/1005

Bachelor
Spinster

Retired Pawnbroker

43
27

Auckland
Auckland

Life
10 years

Methodist Church, Remuera

450

19 February 1918

Rev. A. M. Costain, Methodist

No	125
Date of Notice	19 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Penlivel Eliott	Gladys Marion Neal
BDM Match (91%)	Edward Glenlivit Eliott	Gladys Marion Neal
	💍 1918/1005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Retired Pawnbroker
Age	43	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Remuera
Folio	450
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Costain, 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).