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 095

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar T. G. Culpan

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

421

29 March 1918

Hugh Munro
Ida Mary Ellis

Hugh Munro
Ida May Ellis
💍 1918/2619

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
20

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

2226

Ada Blanche Ellis, mother

29 March 1918

Rev J H Hawkes, Anglican

No	421
Date of Notice	29 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Munro	Ida Mary Ellis
BDM Match (96%)	Hugh Munro	Ida May Ellis
	💍 1918/2619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	2226
Consent	Ada Blanche Ellis, mother
Date of Certificate	29 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J H Hawkes, Anglican

422

29 March 1918

Harold Percival Hedges
Elizabeth Evelyn Cook

Harold Percival Hedges
Elizabeth Evelyn Cook
💍 1918/2630

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Foreman

19
17

Auckland
Auckland

13 years
life

Registrar's Office, Auckland

2227

Judicial declaration of 27 May 1918 the Justice being satisfied that said marriage is a proper marriage under section 20 Marriage Act 1908

29 March 1918

Registrar

No	422
Date of Notice	29 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Percival Hedges	Elizabeth Evelyn Cook
	💍 1918/2630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Foreman
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	2227
Consent	Judicial declaration of 27 May 1918 the Justice being satisfied that said marriage is a proper marriage under section 20 Marriage Act 1908
Date of Certificate	29 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

423

30 March 1918

Simon O'Donnell
Alice Juanita Shaw Sowerby

Simon O'Donnell
Alice Junita Shaw Sowerby
💍 1918/2637

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

32
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

2228

Annie Sowerby, Legal Guardian

30 March 1918

Rev J O'Malley, Roman Catholic

No	423
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simon O'Donnell	Alice Juanita Shaw Sowerby
BDM Match (98%)	Simon O'Donnell	Alice Junita Shaw Sowerby
	💍 1918/2637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	2228
Consent	Annie Sowerby, Legal Guardian
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J O'Malley, Roman Catholic

424

31 March 1918

Frank Knight
Ethel Clara Maria Rossiter

Frank Knight
Ethel Clara May Rossiter
💍 1918/2638

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
21

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
1 year

Methodist Church, Pitt St, Auckland

2229

31 March 1918

Rev C H Laws, Methodist

No	424
Date of Notice	31 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Knight	Ethel Clara Maria Rossiter
BDM Match (94%)	Frank Knight	Ethel Clara May Rossiter
	💍 1918/2638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt St, Auckland
Folio	2229
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C H Laws, Methodist

425

31 March 1918

William Forbes
Maud Ellen Hartnell

William Forbes
Maud Ellery Hartnell
💍 1918/2639

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman

46
37

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
12 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

2230

31 March 1918

Registrar

No	425
Date of Notice	31 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Forbes	Maud Ellen Hartnell
BDM Match (95%)	William Forbes	Maud Ellery Hartnell
	💍 1918/2639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman
Age	46	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	2230
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).