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 547

District of Ngaruawahia Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar J. H. Morrish

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

5 April 1918

Patrick Feeney
Rose Aileen Cavanagh

Patrick Feeney
Rose Aileen Cavanagh
💍 1918/1394

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Clerk

39 years
25 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

7 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church Ngaruawahia

2458

5 April 1918

Rev Father Michael Edge

No	3
Date of Notice	5 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Feeney	Rose Aileen Cavanagh
	💍 1918/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Clerk
Age	39 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	7 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ngaruawahia
Folio	2458
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Michael Edge

19 April 1918

Robert Learmonth
Mary Anne Elizabeth Collins

Robert Learmonth
Mary Anne Elizabeth Collins
💍 1918/1395

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

32 years
24 years

Glen Massey
Ngaruawahia

3 years
9 years

At the office of the Registrar Ngaruawahia

2459

19 April 1918

J. H. Morrish Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	19 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Learmonth	Mary Anne Elizabeth Collins
	💍 1918/1395
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	32 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Glen Massey	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Ngaruawahia
Folio	2459
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1918
Officiating Minister	J. H. Morrish Registrar

8 May 1918

Edwin Alexander Sefton
Myrtle Grace Thomas

Edwin Alexander Sefton
Myrtle Grace Thomas
💍 1918/1396

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26 years
21 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
1 month

At the office of the Registrar Ngaruawahia

2460

8 May 1918

J. H. Morrish Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Alexander Sefton	Myrtle Grace Thomas
	💍 1918/1396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Ngaruawahia
Folio	2460
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	J. H. Morrish Registrar

31 May 1918

Reginald Harold Breest
Constance Emma Wiltshire

Reginald Harold Preest
Constance Emma Wiltshire
💍 1918/1373

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23 years
23 years

Orini
Orini

10 years
8 years

Public Hall Orini

2461

31 May 1918

Rev J. H. Edmondson

No	6
Date of Notice	31 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Harold Breest	Constance Emma Wiltshire
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald Harold Preest	Constance Emma Wiltshire
	💍 1918/1373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Orini	Orini
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall Orini
Folio	2461
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Edmondson

13 June 1918

Charles William Henry Collins
Sarah Elsie Cowan

Charles William Henry Collins
Sarah Elsie Cowan
💍 1918/1374

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23 years
21 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

9 years
13 years

Private Residence of the father of the Bridegroom Ngaruawahia

2462

13 June 1918

Rev J. H. Edmondson

No	7
Date of Notice	13 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Henry Collins	Sarah Elsie Cowan
	💍 1918/1374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	9 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the father of the Bridegroom Ngaruawahia
Folio	2462
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Edmondson

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).