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 549

District of Ngaruawahia Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar G. 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

23 July 1918

Silvester George Vincent
Sarah Olds

Silvester George Vincent
Sarah Olds
💍 1918/4582

Bachelor
Widow (17/3/1909)

Carpenter
Domestic duties

39
41

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

4 years
5 years

Private Residence of Charles James Matthew, Ngaruawahia

4123

23 July 1918

Rev J H Edmondson, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	23 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silvester George Vincent	Sarah Olds
	💍 1918/4582
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (17/3/1909)
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	39	41
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Charles James Matthew, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4123
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J H Edmondson, Methodist

3 August 1918

Ernest Atutahi
Neda Hall

Ernest Atutahi
Veda Hall
💍 1918/4583

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
19

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
8 years

At the office of the Registrar, Ngaruawahia

4124

Henry Hall, Father of the Bride

3 August 1918

G H Morrish, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	3 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Atutahi	Neda Hall
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Atutahi	Veda Hall
	💍 1918/4583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4124
Consent	Henry Hall, Father of the Bride
Date of Certificate	3 August 1918
Officiating Minister	G H Morrish, Registrar

21 August 1918

George Walter Cox
Joy Cecilia Bell

George Walter Cox
Ivy Cecelia Bell
💍 1918/4584

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

45
26

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia

4125

21 August 1918

Rev James Thomas Burrows, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	21 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Walter Cox	Joy Cecilia Bell
BDM Match (91%)	George Walter Cox	Ivy Cecelia Bell
	💍 1918/4584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	45	26
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4125
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev James Thomas Burrows, Presbyterian

23 September 1918

John Henry Hodgson
Elizabeth Jane Hodgson

John Henry Hodgson
Elizabeth Jane Hodgson
💍 1918/5287

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Housekeeper

47
30

Horotiu
Horotiu

4 days
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Ngaruawahia

4970

23 September 1918

Rev Father J O'Hara, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	23 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Hodgson	Elizabeth Jane Hodgson
	💍 1918/5287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Housekeeper
Age	47	30
Dwelling Place	Horotiu	Horotiu
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4970
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Father J O'Hara, Roman Catholic

27 September 1918

Elvin Willis Jacobs
Ethel Elizabeth Henderson

Elvin Willis Jacobs
Ethel Elizabeth Henderson
💍 1918/3278

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Horotiu
Ngaruawahia

7 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia

4126

27 September 1918

Rev James Thomas Burrows, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	27 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elvin Willis Jacobs	Ethel Elizabeth Henderson
	💍 1918/3278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Horotiu	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4126
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev James Thomas Burrows, 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).