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 081

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar Edward Lyons

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

351

9 May 1918

Edward James Conelly
Lizzie Agnes Cahill

Sydney James Conelly
Lizzie Agnes Cahill
💍 1918/2691

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

35
26

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

St Patricks Cathedral Auckland

2158

9 May 1918

Rev P. O'Malley Roman Catholic

No	351
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Conelly	Lizzie Agnes Cahill
BDM Match (85%)	Sydney James Conelly	Lizzie Agnes Cahill
	💍 1918/2691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Cathedral Auckland
Folio	2158
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. O'Malley Roman Catholic

352

8 May 1918

John Henk
Kathleen Elizabeth White

John Herk
Kathleen Elizabeth White
💍 1918/2692

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

14 days
18 days

Church of the Sacred Heart Ponsonby

2159

8 May 1918

Rev J V Barran Roman Catholic

No	352
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henk	Kathleen Elizabeth White
BDM Match (94%)	John Herk	Kathleen Elizabeth White
	💍 1918/2692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 days	18 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart Ponsonby
Folio	2159
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J V Barran Roman Catholic

353

8 May 1918

Robert Menzies
Selina Harrison

Robert Menzies
Selina Harrison
💍 1918/2670

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

45
25

Auckland
Auckland

45 years
4 years

St Matthews Church Auckland

2160

8 May 1918

Rev W. H. Wilson Anglican

No	353
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Menzies	Selina Harrison
	💍 1918/2670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	45	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	45 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	2160
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Wilson Anglican

354

8 May 1918

James Murphy
Rosina Mary McNeil

James Murphy
Rosina May McNeil
💍 1918/2671

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
19

Auckland
Auckland

7 weeks
3 weeks

Registrar's office Auckland

2161

John Alexander McNeil Father

8 May 1918

Registrar

No	354
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Murphy	Rosina Mary McNeil
BDM Match (97%)	James Murphy	Rosina May McNeil
	💍 1918/2671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Auckland
Folio	2161
Consent	John Alexander McNeil Father
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

355

8 May 1918

William Lavery
Frances Emma Ansell Brown

William Lavery
Frances Emma Angell Brown
💍 1918/2672

Widower 24 January 1885
Widow 29 May 1915

Canteen assistant

58
45

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
6 years

Holy Trinity Church Devonport

2162

8 May 1918

Rev F. W. Young Anglican

No	355
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lavery	Frances Emma Ansell Brown
BDM Match (98%)	William Lavery	Frances Emma Angell Brown
	💍 1918/2672
Condition	Widower 24 January 1885	Widow 29 May 1915
Profession	Canteen assistant
Age	58	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Devonport
Folio	2162
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Young 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).