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 637

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar W. E. Pinder

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

15 July 1918

Joseph Alexander Govan
Monica Emily Mayall

Joseph Alexander Govan
Monica Emily Mayall
💍 1918/4629

Bachelor
Spinster

Buttermaker
Domestic Duties

21
23

Tuakau
Tuakau

1 year
7 years

Church of England Tuakau

4147

15 July 1918

Rev L. Foulkes

No	10
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alexander Govan	Monica Emily Mayall
	💍 1918/4629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker	Domestic Duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Tuakau	Tuakau
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Tuakau
Folio	4147
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev L. Foulkes

19 July 1918

Herbert Brewster
Doris Gwendoline Faber

Herbert Brewster
Doris Gwendoline Faber
💍 1918/4630

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
18

Whangarata
Whangarata

24 years
10 months

Residence of E. Faber Whangarata

4148

E. E. Faber

19 July 1918

Rev W. Butterworth

No	11
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Brewster	Doris Gwendoline Faber
	💍 1918/4630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Whangarata	Whangarata
Length of Residence	24 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Residence of E. Faber Whangarata
Folio	4148
Consent	E. E. Faber
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Butterworth

5 August 1918

Roy Schofield
Vera Margaret Dell

Roy Schofield
Vera Margaret Dell
💍 1918/4631

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
25

Waiau pa
Pukekohe

6 weeks
25 years

St Andrews Church Pukekohe

4149

5 August 1918

Rev J. P. Cowie

No	12
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Schofield	Vera Margaret Dell
	💍 1918/4631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Waiau pa	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	6 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Pukekohe
Folio	4149
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. P. Cowie

7 August 1918

Gordon Cecil Leighton
Alice Frances Grant

Gordon Cecil Leighton
Alice Francis Grant
💍 1918/5291

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock agent
Domestic Duties

24
20

Buckland
Buckland

10 years
6 weeks

Residence of W. H. Leighton Buckland

4832

L. G. Grant

7 August 1918

Rev S. Nixon

No	13
Date of Notice	7 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Cecil Leighton	Alice Frances Grant
BDM Match (97%)	Gordon Cecil Leighton	Alice Francis Grant
	💍 1918/5291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock agent	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Buckland	Buckland
Length of Residence	10 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Leighton Buckland
Folio	4832
Consent	L. G. Grant
Date of Certificate	7 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Nixon

22 August 1918

Ebenezer Allan
Charlotte Jane Elcombe

Ebenezer Allan
Charlotte Jane Elcombe
💍 1918/3969

Widower
Widow

Seedsman
Domestic Duties

55
44

Buckland
Christchurch

12 years
3 months

Residence of Mrs Raynor White Colombo St. Christchurch

3400

22 August 1918

Rev A. C. Lawry

No	14
Date of Notice	22 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ebenezer Allan	Charlotte Jane Elcombe
	💍 1918/3969
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Seedsman	Domestic Duties
Age	55	44
Dwelling Place	Buckland	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Raynor White Colombo St. Christchurch
Folio	3400
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. C. Lawry

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).