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 093

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar L. W. Smyth

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

411

28 May 1918

Lars Mikael Willumsen
Catherine Victoria Townshend

Lars Mikael Willumsen
Catherine Victoria Townshend
💍 1918/2601

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter maker

28
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
2 weeks

St Andrew's Church Auckland

2216

Edwin Townshend Father

28 May 1918

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	411
Date of Notice	28 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lars Mikael Willumsen	Catherine Victoria Townshend
	💍 1918/2601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter maker
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Auckland
Folio	2216
Consent	Edwin Townshend Father
Date of Certificate	28 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

412

28 May 1918

Rees Nicholson
Nellie Sheerin

Rees Nicholson
Nellie Sheerin
💍 1918/2602

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

34
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 days

Registrar's office Auckland

2217

28 May 1918

Registrar

No	412
Date of Notice	28 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rees Nicholson	Nellie Sheerin
	💍 1918/2602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Auckland
Folio	2217
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

413

28 May 1918

John Williams
Rae Boyd

John Williams
Grace Boyd
💍 1918/2603

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

30
32

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
18 years

St David's Church Auckland

2218

28 May 1918

Rev. Jas. Saunders, Presbyterian

No	413
Date of Notice	28 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Williams	Rae Boyd
BDM Match (85%)	John Williams	Grace Boyd
	💍 1918/2603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St David's Church Auckland
Folio	2218
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Saunders, Presbyterian

414

28 May 1918

Jonas Midlander
Marion Brandon

Jonas Friedlander
Marion Graydon
💍 1918/2604

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone operator

34
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
1 week

House of F. Knight Ann's Parade Devonport

2219

28 May 1918

Rev. J. Budd, Presbyterian

No	414
Date of Notice	28 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonas Midlander	Marion Brandon
BDM Match (84%)	Jonas Friedlander	Marion Graydon
	💍 1918/2604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone operator
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	House of F. Knight Ann's Parade Devonport
Folio	2219
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Budd, Presbyterian

415

28 May 1918

Leonard Augustus Mousley
Amelia Elizabeth Porter

Leonard Augustus Monsley
Amelia Elizabeth Porter
💍 1918/2606

Bachelor
Widow 5 August 1916

Cheese maker

29
34

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
2 years

Office of Rev. R. Jeffreys Strand Arcade Auckland

2220

28 May 1918

Rev. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian

No	415
Date of Notice	28 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Augustus Mousley	Amelia Elizabeth Porter
BDM Match (98%)	Leonard Augustus Monsley	Amelia Elizabeth Porter
	💍 1918/2606
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 5 August 1916
Profession	Cheese maker
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of Rev. R. Jeffreys Strand Arcade Auckland
Folio	2220
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian

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).