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 294

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar H. J. 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

20 June 1918

Arthur Aislabie
Olive Beatrice Lange

Arthur Aislabie
Olive Beatrice Lange
💍 1918/2801

Bachelor
Spinster

Returned Soldier
Nurse

29
30

Willows Matawhero
Matawhero

About 6 months
About 26 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Gisborne

2392

20 June 1918

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	60
Date of Notice	20 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Aislabie	Olive Beatrice Lange
	💍 1918/2801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Returned Soldier	Nurse
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Willows Matawhero	Matawhero
Length of Residence	About 6 months	About 26 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Gisborne
Folio	2392
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

20 June 1918

Wiremu Whati
Te Kura-a-Mahaki Puhara

Wiremu Whati
Te Kura-a-Mahaki Puhara
💍 1918/2802

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Domestic Duties

21
19

Whangara East Coast
Parihimanihi Waerengaahika

Life
About 8 years

At the Native Church Parihimanihi Waerengaahika Poverty Bay

2393

Katerina Poopu (Legal Guardian)

20 June 1918

Rev. Tamati Te Kanapu, Church of England, Te Rau College, Gisborne

No	61
Date of Notice	20 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wiremu Whati	Te Kura-a-Mahaki Puhara
	💍 1918/2802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Whangara East Coast	Parihimanihi Waerengaahika
Length of Residence	Life	About 8 years
Marriage Place	At the Native Church Parihimanihi Waerengaahika Poverty Bay
Folio	2393
Consent	Katerina Poopu (Legal Guardian)
Date of Certificate	20 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tamati Te Kanapu, Church of England, Te Rau College, Gisborne

22 June 1918

James Norton Williams
Agnes Mary Jane Starnes

James Norton Williams
Agnes Mary Jane Starnes
💍 1918/2803

Bachelor
Spinster

Fencer
Domestic Duties

45
34

Gisborne
Gisborne

14 years
4 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

2394

22 June 1918

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	62
Date of Notice	22 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Norton Williams	Agnes Mary Jane Starnes
	💍 1918/2803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fencer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	2394
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

24 June 1918

James Lawrence Moloney
Bertha Amelia McNamara

James Lawrence Moloney
Bertha Amelia McNamara
💍 1918/2805

Bachelor
Spinster

Station hand
Domestic Duties

35
16

Gisborne (Wairoa)
Gisborne

4 days (Wairoa 35 years)
11 years

Roman Catholic Church Makaraka

2395

Michael McNamara (Father)

24 June 1918

Rev. S. Faragher, Catholic Minister, Ormond

No	63
Date of Notice	24 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lawrence Moloney	Bertha Amelia McNamara
	💍 1918/2805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station hand	Domestic Duties
Age	35	16
Dwelling Place	Gisborne (Wairoa)	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days (Wairoa 35 years)	11 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Makaraka
Folio	2395
Consent	Michael McNamara (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Faragher, Catholic Minister, Ormond

24 June 1918

Walter Edward Davies
Janette James

Walter Edward Davies
Janet James
💍 1918/2806

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
22

Makaraka Poverty Bay
Makaraka

About 25 years
About 10 years

At the private residence of the bride's parents Makaraka Poverty Bay

2396

24 June 1918

Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian Minister

No	64
Date of Notice	24 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Davies	Janette James
BDM Match (92%)	Walter Edward Davies	Janet James
	💍 1918/2806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Makaraka Poverty Bay	Makaraka
Length of Residence	About 25 years	About 10 years
Marriage Place	At the private residence of the bride's parents Makaraka Poverty Bay
Folio	2396
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wheeldon, Presbyterian 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).