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 036

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar L. W. P. M.

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

136

22 February 1918

Joseph Bright
Theresa Josephine Kennedy

Joseph Bright
Theresa Josephine Kennedy
💍 1918/998

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

56
54

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
6 months

Registrar's Office Auckland

461

22 February 1918

Registrar

No	136
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bright	Theresa Josephine Kennedy
	💍 1918/998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	56	54
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	461
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

137

22 February 1918

Haven John Collins
Rhoda Ann Bullen

Haven John Collins
Rhoda Ann Butler
💍 1918/999

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
6 weeks

St Matthews Church Auckland

462

22 February 1918

Rev W E Gillam Anglican

No	137
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Haven John Collins	Rhoda Ann Bullen
BDM Match (94%)	Haven John Collins	Rhoda Ann Butler
	💍 1918/999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	462
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W E Gillam Anglican

138

23 February 1918

Thomas Cochrane
Rita Harling

Thomas Cochrane
Nita Harling
💍 1918/1000

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
18

Auckland
Auckland

Life
2 months

Registrar's Office Auckland

463

Flora Jane Harling Mother

23 February 1918

Registrar

No	138
Date of Notice	23 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Cochrane	Rita Harling
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Cochrane	Nita Harling
	💍 1918/1000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	463
Consent	Flora Jane Harling Mother
Date of Certificate	23 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

139

23 February 1918

Charles Sydney Simpson
Matilda Owen

Charles Sydney Stimpson
Matilda Duren
💍 1918/1001

Bachelor
Spinster

Signalman N Z R

37
32

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs Owen Avondale Auckland

464

23 February 1918

Rev J Dent Methodist

No	139
Date of Notice	23 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Sydney Simpson	Matilda Owen
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Sydney Stimpson	Matilda Duren
	💍 1918/1001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signalman N Z R
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Owen Avondale Auckland
Folio	464
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Dent Methodist

140

25 February 1918

Arthur Joseph Criswell
Gladys Emmeline Sommerville

Arthur Joseph Maxwell
Gladys Emmeline Sommerville
💍 1918/1002

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

26
25

Auckland
Auckland

Life
15 years

St Johns Church Northcote

465

25 February 1918

Rev J L Greer Anglican

No	140
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Joseph Criswell	Gladys Emmeline Sommerville
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur Joseph Maxwell	Gladys Emmeline Sommerville
	💍 1918/1002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	15 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Northcote
Folio	465
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J L Greer Anglican

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).