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 593

District of Opotiki Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar G. O. Stephenson

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

8 November 1918

James Barbour
Jessie Frances Maxwell Connelly

James Barbour
Jessie Frances Maxwell Connelly
💍 1918/6032

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Milliner

37
37

Opotiki
Opotiki

3 days
Since birth

At the residence of Mr C. Connelly, Opotiki

5656

8 November 1918

Robert Francis, Presbyterian Church

No	17
Date of Notice	8 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barbour	Jessie Frances Maxwell Connelly
	💍 1918/6032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Milliner
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 days	Since birth
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr C. Connelly, Opotiki
Folio	5656
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Robert Francis, Presbyterian Church

25 November 1918

Claude Ashdown Berry
Carrie Winifred Bridger

Claude Ashdown Berry
Carrie Winifred Bridger
💍 1919/333

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic duties

33
26

Opotiki
Opotiki

3 days
20 years

St Stephen's Church, Opotiki

58/1919

25 November 1918

Thomas Fisher, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	25 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Ashdown Berry	Carrie Winifred Bridger
	💍 1919/333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Opotiki
Folio	58/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Thomas Fisher, Church of England

27 November 1918

Frederick George Turner
Maude Hansen Webb

Frederick George Turner
Maude Hanson Webb
💍 1918/6033

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic duties

26
22

Opotiki
Opotiki

1 year
22 years

St Stephen's Church, Opotiki

5657

27 November 1918

Thomas Fisher, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	27 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Turner	Maude Hansen Webb
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick George Turner	Maude Hanson Webb
	💍 1918/6033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	1 year	22 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Opotiki
Folio	5657
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Thomas Fisher, Church of England

16 December 1918

Thomas Walter Burke
Florence Elizabeth King

Thomas Walter Burke
Florence Elizabeth King
💍 1918/6034

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
19

Kutarere
Kutarere

1 year
2 years

At the Presbyterian Church, Kutarere

5658

John King, Father of bride

16 December 1918

Robert Francis, Presbyterian Church

No	20
Date of Notice	16 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Burke	Florence Elizabeth King
	💍 1918/6034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Kutarere	Kutarere
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church, Kutarere
Folio	5658
Consent	John King, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	16 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Robert Francis, Presbyterian Church

18 December 1918

Harawira Akuhata
Nihi Maraea Tunoa Matchitt

Harawira Akuhata
Mihi Maraea Tunoa Matchitt
💍 1918/6035

Widower
Divorced

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
26

Te Kaha
Te Kaha

Since birth
Since birth

At the office of the Registrar, Opotiki

5659

18 December 1918

G. O. Stephenson, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	18 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harawira Akuhata	Nihi Maraea Tunoa Matchitt
BDM Match (98%)	Harawira Akuhata	Mihi Maraea Tunoa Matchitt
	💍 1918/6035
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Te Kaha	Te Kaha
Length of Residence	Since birth	Since birth
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Opotiki
Folio	5659
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1918
Officiating Minister	G. O. Stephenson, Registrar

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).