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 026

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. W. Davidson

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

2 February 1918

Edward Bracy Savage
Mary Susanna Halliday

Edward Bracy Savage
Mary Susanna Haliday
💍 1918/180

Widower 22 December 1914
Spinster

Carrier

62
49

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
Life

Methodist Church Epsom

411

2 February 1918

Rev. J. Wrigley, Methodist

No	86
Date of Notice	2 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bracy Savage	Mary Susanna Halliday
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Bracy Savage	Mary Susanna Haliday
	💍 1918/180
Condition	Widower 22 December 1914	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	62	49
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Epsom
Folio	411
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wrigley, Methodist

2 February 1918

Walter Grant Bodall
April Alexandra Otto

Walter Frank Goodall
Sybil Alexandra Otto
💍 1918/181

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's assistant

18
16

Auckland
Auckland

30 days
16 years

House of Bride's Parents, 12 Richmond Rd, Auckland

412

Father Andrew Otto & Mother Esther Otto

2 February 1918

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	87
Date of Notice	2 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Grant Bodall	April Alexandra Otto
BDM Match (83%)	Walter Frank Goodall	Sybil Alexandra Otto
	💍 1918/181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's assistant
Age	18	16
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 days	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Parents, 12 Richmond Rd, Auckland
Folio	412
Consent	Father Andrew Otto & Mother Esther Otto
Date of Certificate	2 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

2 February 1918

Arthur Walter
Christina Shanks

Arthur Walters
Christina Shanks
💍 1918/182

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot-maker

46
44

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
2 months

Home of Rev. J. Bryan, 4 Halston Rd, Mt Eden

413

2 February 1918

Rev. D. J. Albert, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	2 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Walter	Christina Shanks
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Walters	Christina Shanks
	💍 1918/182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot-maker
Age	46	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Home of Rev. J. Bryan, 4 Halston Rd, Mt Eden
Folio	413
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Albert, Presbyterian

4 February 1918

Robert Joseph Barron
Ruby Miriam Cunningham

Robert Charles Ferguson
Ruby Gilberta Cunningham
💍 1918/4370

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

2 days
9 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

414

4 February 1918

Registrar

No	89
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Joseph Barron	Ruby Miriam Cunningham
BDM Match (61%)	Robert Charles Ferguson	Ruby Gilberta Cunningham
	💍 1918/4370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	414
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

4 February 1918

Barker Durham
Minnie Paddison

Charles Outram
Minnie Paddison
💍 1918/184

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
24

Auckland
Auckland

11 days
4 days

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

415

4 February 1918

Archdn. Calder, Anglican

No	90
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Barker Durham	Minnie Paddison
BDM Match (75%)	Charles Outram	Minnie Paddison
	💍 1918/184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 days	4 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	415
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Archdn. Calder, 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).