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 112

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar [illegible]

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

506

26 June 1918

Augustine Edward Cliff
Charlotte Louisa Cowper

Augustine Edward Cliff
Charlotte Louisa Cowper
💍 1918/2719

Bachelor
Widow 18 July 1917

Marine Cook

47
37

Auckland
Auckland

from overseas
2 months

St Matthew's Church Auckland

2310

26 June 1918

Rev W. Gillam, Anglican

No	506
Date of Notice	26 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustine Edward Cliff	Charlotte Louisa Cowper
	💍 1918/2719
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 18 July 1917
Profession	Marine Cook
Age	47	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	from overseas	2 months
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church Auckland
Folio	2310
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Gillam, Anglican

507

27 June 1918

Leopold Frank Marsh
Constance Jeanette Marsh

Leopold Zank
Constance Jeanette Marsh
💍 1918/2720

Bachelor
Widow 9 August 1912

Farmer

37
37

Auckland
Auckland

14 days
2 days

Registrar's Office Auckland

2311

27 June 1918

Registrar

No	507
Date of Notice	27 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leopold Frank Marsh	Constance Jeanette Marsh
BDM Match (79%)	Leopold Zank	Constance Jeanette Marsh
	💍 1918/2720
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 9 August 1912
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	2311
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

508

27 June 1918

William Charles Ellis
Mildred Livingstone Simpson

William Charles Ellis
Mildred Livingstone Simpson
💍 1918/2721

Divorced 6 December 1912
Spinster

Harbour Board Messenger

41
27

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
13 years

Residence of Rev E Box New North Rd Auckland

2312

27 June 1918

Rev E Box, Methodist

No	508
Date of Notice	27 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Ellis	Mildred Livingstone Simpson
	💍 1918/2721
Condition	Divorced 6 December 1912	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Messenger
Age	41	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev E Box New North Rd Auckland
Folio	2312
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E Box, Methodist

509

27 June 1918

Anthony Vincent Plant
Anna Nutham

Anthony Vincent Grant
Anna Muthan
💍 1918/3836

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

27
19

Auckland
Auckland

13 weeks
4 weeks

Church of the Sacred Heart Ponsonby

2327

14 days notice (Dec 29)

11 July 1918

Rev J J Carran, Roman Catholic

No	509
Date of Notice	27 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Vincent Plant	Anna Nutham
BDM Match (86%)	Anthony Vincent Grant	Anna Muthan
	💍 1918/3836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart Ponsonby
Folio	2327
Consent	14 days notice (Dec 29)
Date of Certificate	11 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J J Carran, Roman Catholic

510

27 June 1918

John Samuel Higginson
Elsie Mary Purdy

John Samuel Higginson
Elsie Mary Purdy
💍 1918/2722

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

1 day
life

House of Bride's Mother Grummeyer Rd Remuera

2313

27 June 1918

Rev C H Laws, Methodist

No	510
Date of Notice	27 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Higginson	Elsie Mary Purdy
	💍 1918/2722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 day	life
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Mother Grummeyer Rd Remuera
Folio	2313
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C H Laws, Methodist

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).