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 320

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. P. Kirkwood

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

7 February 1918

Alick Christopher Ridder
Edith Frances Bittelheim

Alick Christopher Ridder
Edith Frances Bettelheim
💍 1918/498

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church Frankton

881

7 February 1918

Rev. J. T. Burrows Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	7 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alick Christopher Ridder	Edith Frances Bittelheim
BDM Match (98%)	Alick Christopher Ridder	Edith Frances Bettelheim
	💍 1918/498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Frankton
Folio	881
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Burrows Presbyterian

12 February 1918

George Frederick William Smith
Elsie Rita McWilliams

George Frederick William Smith
Elsie Rita McWilliams
💍 1918/985

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothing Manager
Domestic duties

30
20

Hamilton
Auckland

10 months
5 years

St. Matthew's Anglican Church Auckland

447

Samuel McWilliams

12 February 1918

Rev. W. E. Gillam Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick William Smith	Elsie Rita McWilliams
	💍 1918/985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothing Manager	Domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Anglican Church Auckland
Folio	447
Consent	Samuel McWilliams
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam Anglican

18 February 1918

August Samuel Morreel
Veronica Foster

August Camiel Morreel
Veronica Foster
💍 1918/499

Bachelor
Widow

Farm Labourer
Domestic

26
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Anglican Church Hamilton

882

18 February 1918

Rev. E. M. Cowie Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	August Samuel Morreel	Veronica Foster
BDM Match (95%)	August Camiel Morreel	Veronica Foster
	💍 1918/499
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church Hamilton
Folio	882
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. M. Cowie Anglican

18 February 1918

Roy William Earl Pye Harman
Florence Pearl Chivers

Roy William Earl Bye Harman
Florence Pearl Chivers
💍 1918/476

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

20
22

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 months
2 months

Registrar's Office Hamilton

883

William Harman

18 February 1918

R. P. Kirkwood Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy William Earl Pye Harman	Florence Pearl Chivers
BDM Match (98%)	Roy William Earl Bye Harman	Florence Pearl Chivers
	💍 1918/476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hamilton
Folio	883
Consent	William Harman
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	R. P. Kirkwood Registrar

25 February 1918

Albert Georg Forbes
Hilda Shaw

Albert George Forbes
Hilda Shaw
💍 1918/477

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
19

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 years

Residence of the Bride's Parents Hamilton

884

John Shaw

25 February 1918

Rev. R. Mackie Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Georg Forbes	Hilda Shaw
BDM Match (98%)	Albert George Forbes	Hilda Shaw
	💍 1918/477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride's Parents Hamilton
Folio	884
Consent	John Shaw
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie 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).