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 070

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar L. W. Pownall

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

296

16 April 1918

Charles Penrose Pearce
Ivy Evelyn Stewart

Charles Penrose Pearce
Ivy Evelyn Stewart
💍 1918/2537

Widower 15 October 1917
Spinster

Painter

60
28

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

2103

16 April 1918

Registrar

No	296
Date of Notice	16 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Penrose Pearce	Ivy Evelyn Stewart
	💍 1918/2537
Condition	Widower 15 October 1917	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	60	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	2103
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

297

16 April 1918

Thomas Brooks Porter
Elsie Gertrude Loram

Henry Brooks Porter
Elsie Gertrude Loram
💍 1918/2538

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
4 years

Church of St Columba, Grey Lynn, Auckland

2104

(Dec 27) 14 days notice

30 April 1918

Rev. J. H. Cable, Anglican

No	297
Date of Notice	16 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Brooks Porter	Elsie Gertrude Loram
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Brooks Porter	Elsie Gertrude Loram
	💍 1918/2538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Columba, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Folio	2104
Consent	(Dec 27) 14 days notice
Date of Certificate	30 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Cable, Anglican

298

16 April 1918

Walter John Griffin
Blanche Barbara Hawken

Walter John Griffin
Blanche Barbara Hawken
💍 1918/2539

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
34

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
5 years

House of Bride's Father, Carlton Gore Rd, Auckland

2105

16 April 1918

Rev. J. J. Elliott, Methodist

No	298
Date of Notice	16 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Griffin	Blanche Barbara Hawken
	💍 1918/2539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Father, Carlton Gore Rd, Auckland
Folio	2105
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Elliott, Methodist

299

16 April 1918

Bertram Gibbons
Doris Field Arrowsmith

Bertram Gibbons
Doris Field Arrowsmith
💍 1918/2540

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

33
29

Auckland
Petone

5 years
28 years

St Augustine's Church, Petone

2106

no second cert.

16 April 1918

Rev. H. J. Kealy, Anglican

No	299
Date of Notice	16 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Gibbons	Doris Field Arrowsmith
	💍 1918/2540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Petone
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	2106
Consent	no second cert.
Date of Certificate	16 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Kealy, Anglican

300

17 April 1918

Arthur Ernest Cooper
Emma Matteson

Arthur Ernest Cooper
Emma Matheson
💍 1918/2541

Bachelor
Widow 6 September 1916

Saddler

32
31

Auckland
Auckland

12 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Auckland

2107

17 April 1918

Registrar

No	300
Date of Notice	17 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Cooper	Emma Matteson
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Ernest Cooper	Emma Matheson
	💍 1918/2541
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6 September 1916
Profession	Saddler
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	2107
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).