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 204

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar W. G. Purton

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

956

9 December 1918

Douglas Ogilvie
Rose Phoebe Coppell

Douglas Ogilvie
Rose Phoebe Coppell
💍 1918/5829

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

29
29

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
5 years

St Andrews Church Epsom

5497

9 December 1918

Rev. J. Wilkinson, Anglican

No	956
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Ogilvie	Rose Phoebe Coppell
	💍 1918/5829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Epsom
Folio	5497
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkinson, Anglican

957

9 December 1918

Robert Albert Rodden
Marjorie Gladys Robinson Amor

George Albert Nodder
Marjorie Gladys Morrison Amor
💍 1918/5830

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Operator

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
12 months

St James Manse Auckland

5498

9 December 1918

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	957
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Albert Rodden	Marjorie Gladys Robinson Amor
BDM Match (73%)	George Albert Nodder	Marjorie Gladys Morrison Amor
	💍 1918/5830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Operator
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	12 months
Marriage Place	St James Manse Auckland
Folio	5498
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

958

9 December 1918

Arthur Edward Wheeler
Elsie Dorkens

Arthur Edward Wheeler
Elsie Porteous
💍 1918/5831

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterside Worker

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

9 months
2 years

St Johns Church Ponsonby

5499

George Alfred Dorkens, Father

9 December 1918

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	958
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Wheeler	Elsie Dorkens
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Edward Wheeler	Elsie Porteous
	💍 1918/5831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterside Worker
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Ponsonby
Folio	5499
Consent	George Alfred Dorkens, Father
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

959

9 December 1918

James Creighton Hess
Alice Cookman

James Creighton Ness
Alice Cookmon
💍 1919/342

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
12 years

House of Father of Bridegroom, 25 Francis St, Grey Lynn

91/1919

23 December 1918

Rev. J. Jolly, Presbyterian

No	959
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Creighton Hess	Alice Cookman
BDM Match (94%)	James Creighton Ness	Alice Cookmon
	💍 1919/342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bridegroom, 25 Francis St, Grey Lynn
Folio	91/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Jolly, Presbyterian

960

10 December 1918

William Julius Pass
Evelyn Edna Lyall

William Julius Gass
Evelyn Edna Lyall
💍 1918/5832

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist + Druggist

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

15 months
4 months

St David's Church Auckland

5500

10 December 1918

Rev. A. W. Kinmont, Presbyterian

No	960
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Julius Pass	Evelyn Edna Lyall
BDM Match (97%)	William Julius Gass	Evelyn Edna Lyall
	💍 1918/5832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist + Druggist
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St David's Church Auckland
Folio	5500
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Kinmont, 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).