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 300

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar H. G. Hills

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

24 July 1918

George Harold Burgess
Minnie Isabella Mitchell

George Harrod Burgess
Minnie Isabella Mitchell
💍 1918/4520

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Home Duties

32
21

Waingake, Poverty Bay
Waingake, Poverty Bay

5 years
8 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

4062

24 July 1918

Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	77
Date of Notice	24 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harold Burgess	Minnie Isabella Mitchell
BDM Match (95%)	George Harrod Burgess	Minnie Isabella Mitchell
	💍 1918/4520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Home Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Waingake, Poverty Bay	Waingake, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	4062
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

31 July 1918

James Lyndon Kirker
Ella May Wyllie

James Lyndon Kirker
Ella May Wyllie
💍 1918/4521

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager
Household Duties

32
32

Gisborne
Gisborne

About 15 months
32 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4063

31 July 1918

Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	31 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lyndon Kirker	Ella May Wyllie
	💍 1918/4521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager	Household Duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	About 15 months	32 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4063
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

3 August 1918

Henry Wilfred Coker
May Stella Gaugley

Henry Milford Croker
May Stella Langley
💍 1918/4522

Bachelor
Spinster

Locomotive Fireman
Domestic Duties

19
17

Ngatapa
Ngatapa, Poverty Bay

2 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4064

Henry Robert Coker (Father); George Warren Stewart Gaugley (Father)

3 August 1918

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	79
Date of Notice	3 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wilfred Coker	May Stella Gaugley
BDM Match (84%)	Henry Milford Croker	May Stella Langley
	💍 1918/4522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Locomotive Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Ngatapa	Ngatapa, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4064
Consent	Henry Robert Coker (Father); George Warren Stewart Gaugley (Father)
Date of Certificate	3 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12 August 1918

Frederick Lee Woolrich
Rosina Gladys Preston

Frederick Lee Woolrich
Rosina Gladys Preston
💍 1918/4523

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

28
23

Gisborne
Manutuke, Poverty Bay

5 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne

4065

12 August 1918

Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

No	80
Date of Notice	12 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lee Woolrich	Rosina Gladys Preston
	💍 1918/4523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Manutuke, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	4065
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

16 August 1918

William Fiddis
Maria Carter

William Fiddis
Maria Carter
💍 1918/4524

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

45
19

Otoko, Poverty Bay
Otoko

About 2 weeks
10 years

The Church of England, Matawai, Poverty Bay

4066

Matthew Carter (Father)

16 August 1918

Rev. Douglas Blomfield, Malcolm

No	81
Date of Notice	16 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fiddis	Maria Carter
	💍 1918/4524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	45	19
Dwelling Place	Otoko, Poverty Bay	Otoko
Length of Residence	About 2 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Matawai, Poverty Bay
Folio	4066
Consent	Matthew Carter (Father)
Date of Certificate	16 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Douglas Blomfield, Malcolm

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).