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 028

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar H. B. [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

6 February 1918

John Lachlan Clark
Charlotte Caroline Surman

John Lachlan Clark
Charlotte Caroline Surman
💍 1918/191

Widower 9 December 1907
Spinster

Foreman

41
37

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
Life

St Andrews Church Epsom

421

6 February 1918

Rev. J. Wilkinson Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	6 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lachlan Clark	Charlotte Caroline Surman
	💍 1918/191
Condition	Widower 9 December 1907	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	41	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Epsom
Folio	421
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkinson Anglican

7 February 1918

Reginald Charles Wood
Hazel Florence Hollier

Reginald Charles Wood
Hazel Florence Hollier
💍 1918/192

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

18
17

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
9 years

Salvation Army Barracks Onehunga

422

Walter Charles Wood Father, William Edward Hollier Father

7 February 1918

Adj. R. Simpson Salvation Army

No	97
Date of Notice	7 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Charles Wood	Hazel Florence Hollier
	💍 1918/192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks Onehunga
Folio	422
Consent	Walter Charles Wood Father, William Edward Hollier Father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Adj. R. Simpson Salvation Army

7 February 1918

Frederick Victor Pelham
Dorothy Anne Elizabeth Smardon

Frederick Victor Welham
Dorothy Anne Elizabeth Smardon
💍 1918/193

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

28
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
10 months

St Matthews Church Auckland

423

7 February 1918

Rev. W. E. Gillam Anglican

No	98
Date of Notice	7 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Victor Pelham	Dorothy Anne Elizabeth Smardon
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Victor Welham	Dorothy Anne Elizabeth Smardon
	💍 1918/193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	423
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam Anglican

8 February 1918

James Pitkethley
Margaret Ella Jakobson

James Pitkethley
Margaret Ella Jakobson
💍 1918/969

Widower 20 October 1914
Widow 5 October 1917

Miner

45
38

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
4 months

St James Manse Auckland

424

8 February 1918

Rev. R. L. Walker Presbyterian

No	99
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pitkethley	Margaret Ella Jakobson
	💍 1918/969
Condition	Widower 20 October 1914	Widow 5 October 1917
Profession	Miner
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St James Manse Auckland
Folio	424
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker Presbyterian

100

8 February 1918

William Eaton
Elizabeth Freddy

William Eaton
Elizabeth Freddy
💍 1918/980

Bachelor
Widow 27 September 1917

Labourer

35
45

Auckland
Auckland

10 months
2 years

St James Manse Auckland

425

8 February 1918

Rev. R. L. Walker Presbyterian

No	100
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Eaton	Elizabeth Freddy
	💍 1918/980
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27 September 1917
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St James Manse Auckland
Folio	425
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker 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).