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 752

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar H. R. Maxwell

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 May 1918

James Alley
Stella Inglis

James Alley
Stella Inglis
💍 1918/2903

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
20

Hikutaia
Thames

26 years
20 years

In the house of Mrs. J. J. Inglis, Pollen Street, Thames

2520

James Thorpe Inglis (Father)

2 May 1918

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	2 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alley	Stella Inglis
	💍 1918/2903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. J. J. Inglis, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	2520
Consent	James Thorpe Inglis (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

13 May 1918

Albert James Tasker
Daphne Bell Smith

Albert James Tasker
Daphne Bell Smith
💍 1918/2905

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
18

Thames
Thames

3 years
18 years

In the house of H. Brown, Kirkwood Street, Thames

2521

James George Tasker (Father), Harriett Brown (Mother)

13 May 1918

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	13 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Tasker	Daphne Bell Smith
	💍 1918/2905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the house of H. Brown, Kirkwood Street, Thames
Folio	2521
Consent	James George Tasker (Father), Harriett Brown (Mother)
Date of Certificate	13 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

20 May 1918

Charles Frederick Ryan
Ivy Theresa Staples

Charles Frederick Ryan
Ivy Theresa Staples
💍 1918/2906

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Shop Assistant

32
23

Thames
Thames

20 years
5 months

In St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

2522

20 May 1918

Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Ryan	Ivy Theresa Staples
	💍 1918/2906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Shop Assistant
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	5 months
Marriage Place	In St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	2522
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

27 May 1918

Harry Hodge
Ruth Emily Evans

Harry Hodge
Ruth Emily Evans
💍 1918/2907

Widower (6th January 1918)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

46
26

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

2523

27 May 1918

William H. Poth, Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	27 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hodge	Ruth Emily Evans
	💍 1918/2907
Condition	Widower (6th January 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	46	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	2523
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1918
Officiating Minister	William H. Poth, Registrar

28 May 1918

Norman Leonard Brown
Mary Corbett

Norman Leonard Brown
Mary Corbett
💍 1918/2908

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Milliner

29
30

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

3 days
2 months

In the Roman Catholic Church, Hikutaia

2524

28 May 1918

Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	19
Date of Notice	28 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Leonard Brown	Mary Corbett
	💍 1918/2908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Milliner
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Hikutaia
Folio	2524
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

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).