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 012

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

7 January 1918

William Jasper Lester Jonas
Lucy Cecilia McIvor

William John Lester Jonas
Lucy Cecilia McIlroy
💍 1918/928

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

29
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
life

Church of St Michael Remuera

341

7 January 1918

Rev J Brennan Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jasper Lester Jonas	Lucy Cecilia McIvor
BDM Match (83%)	William John Lester Jonas	Lucy Cecilia McIlroy
	💍 1918/928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	life
Marriage Place	Church of St Michael Remuera
Folio	341
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Brennan Roman Catholic

7 January 1918

Ludovic Blackwood
Isabella Spedding

Ludovic Blackwood
Isabella Spedding
💍 1918/929

Widower 11 April 1909
Spinster

Independent means

68
49

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
30 years

House of Mr J Spedding Market Rd Remuera

342

7 January 1918

Rev R S Hempton Baptist

No	17
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ludovic Blackwood	Isabella Spedding
	💍 1918/929
Condition	Widower 11 April 1909	Spinster
Profession	Independent means
Age	68	49
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr J Spedding Market Rd Remuera
Folio	342
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R S Hempton Baptist

7 January 1918

David McIntosh Webster
Rose Milner

David McIntosh Webster
Rose Milner
💍 1918/930

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
19 years

Methodist Church Dominion Rd Mt Eden

343

Amelia Sarah Goodenough formerly Milner mother

7 January 1918

Rev P R Paris Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McIntosh Webster	Rose Milner
	💍 1918/930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Dominion Rd Mt Eden
Folio	343
Consent	Amelia Sarah Goodenough formerly Milner mother
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P R Paris Methodist

7 January 1918

John Smith
Edith Florence Foster

John Smith
Edith Florence Foster
💍 1918/931

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

32
23

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
5 years

Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland

344

7 January 1918

Rev A W Niblett Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Edith Florence Foster
	💍 1918/931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland
Folio	344
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A W Niblett Anglican

7 January 1918

Alfred Hallows Brett
Elsie Christina Bailey

Alfred Hallows Brett
Elsie Christina Bailey
💍 1918/933

Widower 22 July 1912
Spinster

Farmer

43
36

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 months

House of Mr S Sayers Paice Avenue Mt Roskill

345

7 January 1918

Rev P R Paris Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hallows Brett	Elsie Christina Bailey
	💍 1918/933
Condition	Widower 22 July 1912	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr S Sayers Paice Avenue Mt Roskill
Folio	345
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P R Paris 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).