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 265

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar S. Ure Macaulay

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

3 January 1918

John Brock Smith
Mary Gorrie

John Brock Smith
Mary Gorrie
💍 1918/428

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic duties

25
19

Tutamoe
Tutamoe

21 Years
21 Years

In house of Thomas Lennox Gorrie, Tutamoe

835

Thomas Lennox Gorrie (Father)

3 January 1918

Rev W. H. Speer

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brock Smith	Mary Gorrie
	💍 1918/428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Tutamoe	Tutamoe
Length of Residence	21 Years	21 Years
Marriage Place	In house of Thomas Lennox Gorrie, Tutamoe
Folio	835
Consent	Thomas Lennox Gorrie (Father)
Date of Certificate	3 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Speer

10 January 1918

Leslie Gordon McCartney
Lizzie Satman

Leslie Gordon McCartney
Lizzie Satman
💍 1918/429

Bachelor
Divorced 14 May 1914

Farmer
Household duties

37
36

Dargaville
Mangawhare

5 days
3 days

Registrars Office Dargaville

836

10 January 1918

S. U. Macaulay (Registrar)

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Gordon McCartney	Lizzie Satman
	💍 1918/429
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 14 May 1914
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Dargaville
Folio	836
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1918
Officiating Minister	S. U. Macaulay (Registrar)

8 February 1918

Percy Ernest Smith
Annie Leach

Percy Ernest Smith
Annie Leach
💍 1918/430

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic duties

34
22

Dargaville
Dargaville

27 Years
6 Months

Roman Catholic Church Mangawhare

837

8 February 1918

Father J. Zanna

No	3
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Ernest Smith	Annie Leach
	💍 1918/430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	27 Years	6 Months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Mangawhare
Folio	837
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Father J. Zanna

12 February 1918

Frederick Arthur Victor Tonge
Gertrude Ellen Stancliffe

Frederick Arthur Victor Tonge
Gertrude Ellen Stancliffe
💍 1918/431

Bachelor
Divorced 23 December 1916

Labourer
Household duties

24
27

Dargaville
Dargaville

4 days
4 years

House of Thomas Stancliffe Dargaville

838

12 February 1918

Rev W. B. Black

No	4
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arthur Victor Tonge	Gertrude Ellen Stancliffe
	💍 1918/431
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 23 December 1916
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Thomas Stancliffe Dargaville
Folio	838
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. B. Black

25 February 1918

William Arthur Best
Vida Joyce Rayher

William Arthur Best
Vida Joyce Rayner
💍 1918/432

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Expert
Household duties

30
22

Babylon
Babylon

2 Months
1 Year

Holy Trinity Church Dargaville

839

25 February 1918

Rev F. Latter

No	5
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Best	Vida Joyce Rayher
BDM Match (97%)	William Arthur Best	Vida Joyce Rayner
	💍 1918/432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Expert	Household duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Babylon	Babylon
Length of Residence	2 Months	1 Year
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Dargaville
Folio	839
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. Latter

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).