Intentions to Marry, 1918 Kuaotunu to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840476, 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.

1918b contains pages 433-864, covering districts from Kuaotunu to Whangaroa

Page 854

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar J. Bird

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

21 August 1918

Herbert Humphries
Grace Louisa Bradshaw

Herbert Humphries
Grace Louisa Bradshaw
💍 1918/4694

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine-Driver
Domestic

27
18

Taurikura
Onerahi

20 years
18 years

St Stephens Church Onerahi

4215

George Louis Bradshaw father.

21 August 1918

Rev W. E. Lush, Church of England Minister

No	23
Date of Notice	21 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Humphries	Grace Louisa Bradshaw
	💍 1918/4694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine-Driver	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Taurikura	Onerahi
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church Onerahi
Folio	4215
Consent	George Louis Bradshaw father.
Date of Certificate	21 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. E. Lush, Church of England Minister

28 August 1918

Lambert Harding Lilley
Nellie Rosina Duncan

Lambert-Harding Lilley
Nellie Rosina Duncan
💍 1918/4695

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Householder

47
23

Ruatangata
Ruatangata

47 years
3 years

Methodist Church Whangarei

4216

28 August 1918

Rev J. R. Clark, Methodist Minister

No	24
Date of Notice	28 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lambert Harding Lilley	Nellie Rosina Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	Lambert-Harding Lilley	Nellie Rosina Duncan
	💍 1918/4695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Householder
Age	47	23
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	47 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Whangarei
Folio	4216
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Clark, Methodist Minister

28 August 1918

Henry John Dobson
May Elsie Ruby Olson

Henry John Dobson
May Elsie Ruby Olson
💍 1918/4696

Widower 17/8/15
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

32
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 days
6 days

Registrars Office Whangarei

4217

28 August 1918

J. Bird, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	28 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Dobson	May Elsie Ruby Olson
	💍 1918/4696
Condition	Widower 17/8/15	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Whangarei
Folio	4217
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1918
Officiating Minister	J. Bird, Registrar

6 September 1918

Murdoch Colin McRae
Olive Maude Coe

Murdoch Colin McRae
Olive Maude Coe
💍 1918/4697

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
23

Maungatapere
Whangarei

4 years
1 year

Residence of J. D. McKenzie Whangarei

4218

6 September 1918

Rev G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian Minister

No	26
Date of Notice	6 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch Colin McRae	Olive Maude Coe
	💍 1918/4697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Maungatapere	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of J. D. McKenzie Whangarei
Folio	4218
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian Minister

24 September 1918

Wilfred Pope
Olive Ada Going

Wilfred Pope
Olive Ada Going
💍 1918/4698

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Store Manageress

27
27

Onerahi
Onerahi

2 years
27 years

St Stephens Church Onerahi

4219

24 September 1918

Rev R. T. Grades, Church of England Minister

No	27
Date of Notice	24 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Pope	Olive Ada Going
	💍 1918/4698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Store Manageress
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Onerahi	Onerahi
Length of Residence	2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church Onerahi
Folio	4219
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R. T. Grades, Church of England Minister

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).