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 139

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar C. 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

636

5 August 1918

Martin Cobbald
Sadie Louisa M. Nicoll

Martin Cobbald
Sadie Louisa McNicoll
💍 1918/4405

Widower 8 August 1907
Spinster

Hotel Proprietor

63
39

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
Life

Registrar's Office Auckland

3870

5 August 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	636
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Cobbald	Sadie Louisa M. Nicoll
BDM Match (95%)	Martin Cobbald	Sadie Louisa McNicoll
	💍 1918/4405
Condition	Widower 8 August 1907	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Proprietor
Age	63	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	3870
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

637

6 August 1918

Arthur Irwin Rea
Louise Ruthford Sleep

Arthur Irwin Rea
Louise Ruthford Fleet
💍 1918/4406

Widower 17 December 1917
Spinster

Caretaker

43
23

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
20 years

Residence of Rev. E. T. Cox, New North Road, Auckland

3871

6 August 1918

Rev. E. T. Cox, Methodist

No	637
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Irwin Rea	Louise Ruthford Sleep
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Irwin Rea	Louise Ruthford Fleet
	💍 1918/4406
Condition	Widower 17 December 1917	Spinster
Profession	Caretaker
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. E. T. Cox, New North Road, Auckland
Folio	3871
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. T. Cox, Methodist

638

6 August 1918

William Charles Thomas
Mary Manning Nightingale

William Charles Thomas
Mary Manning Nightingale
💍 1918/4407

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Officer

29
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

St. Benedicts Church Auckland

3872

6 August 1918

Rt. Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	638
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Thomas	Mary Manning Nightingale
	💍 1918/4407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Officer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Benedicts Church Auckland
Folio	3872
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

639

6 August 1918

Cyril Shove
Emily May Ingham

Cyril Shone
Emily May Ingham
💍 1918/4408

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
23

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
Life

Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland

3873

6 August 1918

Rev. W. A. Keay, Anglican

No	639
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Shove	Emily May Ingham
BDM Match (95%)	Cyril Shone	Emily May Ingham
	💍 1918/4408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland
Folio	3873
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Keay, Anglican

640

6 August 1918

Edward Natale Olson
Vida Elenore Hansen

Edward Natale Olson
Vida Elenore Hansen
💍 1918/4409

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

24
20

Auckland
Auckland

8 months
5 years

Residence of Mr. F. Olson, 8 Howe Street, Auckland

3874

John Frederick Hansen, Father

6 August 1918

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	640
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Natale Olson	Vida Elenore Hansen
	💍 1918/4409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. Olson, 8 Howe Street, Auckland
Folio	3874
Consent	John Frederick Hansen, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, 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).