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 289

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar A. S. Ball

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 April 1918

Rotohiko Pura
Ara Rawakawa

Rotohiko Pura
Ara Kawakawa
💍 1918/2776

Widower 13/11/15
Spinster

Shearer
Home Duties

21
21

Ruatoki North, Gisborne
Tauranga, Gisborne

10 months (4 days at Gisborne)
6 months (4 days at Gisborne)

Registrar's office, Gisborne

2367

3 April 1918

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	35
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rotohiko Pura	Ara Rawakawa
BDM Match (96%)	Rotohiko Pura	Ara Kawakawa
	💍 1918/2776
Condition	Widower 13/11/15	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	Home Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Ruatoki North, Gisborne	Tauranga, Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 months (4 days at Gisborne)	6 months (4 days at Gisborne)
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Gisborne
Folio	2367
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3 April 1918

Sidney Brown Rudland
Violet Mary Rayner

Sidney Brown Rudland
Violet Mary Rayner
💍 1918/2777

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

31
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 days
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

2368

3 April 1918

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Brown Rudland	Violet Mary Rayner
	💍 1918/2777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	2368
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

4 April 1918

Frank Auld
Agnes Elizabeth Chrissie Johnston

Frank Auld
Agnes Elizabeth Chrissie Johnston
💍 1918/2778

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Clerk

28
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 weeks
Life

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

2369

4 April 1918

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister, Gisborne

No	37
Date of Notice	4 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Auld	Agnes Elizabeth Chrissie Johnston
	💍 1918/2778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Clerk
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	2369
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister, Gisborne

5 April 1918

Arthur Mark Budge
Ethel Caroline Moore

Arthur Mark Budge
Ethel Caroline Moore
💍 1918/2780

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

29
21

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

7 years
about 7 months

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

2370

5 April 1918

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	5 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Mark Budge	Ethel Caroline Moore
	💍 1918/2780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	about 7 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	2370
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

6 April 1918

William Alexander McCliskie
Mary Gladys Hillyard

William Alexander McCliskie
May Gladys Hillyard
💍 1918/2781

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Dressmaker

29
26

Mangapapa
Mangapapa, Poverty Bay

26 years
3 1/2 years

The Baptist Church, Palmerston Road, Gisborne

2371

6 April 1918

Rev. Joseph Carlisle, Baptist Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	6 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander McCliskie	Mary Gladys Hillyard
BDM Match (98%)	William Alexander McCliskie	May Gladys Hillyard
	💍 1918/2781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Dressmaker
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Mangapapa	Mangapapa, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	26 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Baptist Church, Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	2371
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Carlisle, Baptist Minister

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).