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 286

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar H. E. Hill

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

2 March 1918

Henry Chaplin
Margaret Preston

Henry Chaplin
Margaret Perston
💍 1918/462

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Home duties

29
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

868

2 March 1918

Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Chaplin	Margaret Preston
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Chaplin	Margaret Perston
	💍 1918/462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Home duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	868
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe, Church of England

2 March 1918

William Fox
Helen Begg Shaw

William Fox
Helen Begg Shaw
💍 1918/463

Widower Sept. 1914
Spinster

Billiard Saloon Proprietor
Home duties

54
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 years
12 years

St. Andrew's Manse Childers Road Gisborne

869

2 March 1918

Rev. James Aitken M.A., Presbyterian Minister

No	27
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fox	Helen Begg Shaw
	💍 1918/463
Condition	Widower Sept. 1914	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Saloon Proprietor	Home duties
Age	54	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse Childers Road Gisborne
Folio	869
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken M.A., Presbyterian Minister

13 March 1918

Elijah Lake
Emily Lawrence Anderson

Elijah Lake
Emily Lawrence Anderson
💍 1918/464

Widower June 1 1914
Widow June 13 1908

Station Manager
Nurse

35
28

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
3 years

Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne

870

13 March 1918

Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	13 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elijah Lake	Emily Lawrence Anderson
	💍 1918/464
Condition	Widower June 1 1914	Widow June 13 1908
Profession	Station Manager	Nurse
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne
Folio	870
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe, Church of England

21 March 1918

John Wallace Nisbett
Rose Hart

John Wallace Nisbett
Rose Hart
💍 1918/465

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Lady Help

25
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

Life
5 years

At the private residence of the Bridegroom 56 Stout Street Gisborne

871

21 March 1918

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	29
Date of Notice	21 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wallace Nisbett	Rose Hart
	💍 1918/465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Lady Help
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	At the private residence of the Bridegroom 56 Stout Street Gisborne
Folio	871
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

22 March 1918

Robert Thomson
Winifred Ethel White

Robert Thomson
Winifred Ethel White
💍 1918/466

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

19
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

16 years
4 years

The Residence of the Bride's Parents No 49 Salisbury Road Gisborne

872

Margaret Holloway, formerly Thomson - Mother

22 March 1918

Adjutant Thomas Holmes, Salvation Army Officer

No	30
Date of Notice	22 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thomson	Winifred Ethel White
	💍 1918/466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	16 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of the Bride's Parents No 49 Salisbury Road Gisborne
Folio	872
Consent	Margaret Holloway, formerly Thomson - Mother
Date of Certificate	22 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Adjutant Thomas Holmes, Salvation Army Officer

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).