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 669

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar H. E. Gilbert

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

05 July 1918

Alfred Alexander Harman
Rata Haita

Alfred Alexander Harman
Rato Haira
💍 1918/4612

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

34
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 years
23 years

St Michael's Roman Catholic Church Rotorua

4155

05 July 1918

Rev. Joseph Devolder Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	05 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Alexander Harman	Rata Haita
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred Alexander Harman	Rato Haira
	💍 1918/4612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Roman Catholic Church Rotorua
Folio	4155
Consent
Date of Certificate	05 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Devolder Roman Catholic

18 July 1918

Thomas Alfred Brownlee
Ruby Phyllis Stillman

Thomas Alfred Brownlees
Ruby Phyllis Stillman
💍 1918/4613

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic

23
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 months
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Rotorua

4156

18 July 1918

H. E. Gilbert Deputy Registrar of marriages

No	18
Date of Notice	18 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Brownlee	Ruby Phyllis Stillman
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Alfred Brownlees	Ruby Phyllis Stillman
	💍 1918/4613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	4156
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1918
Officiating Minister	H. E. Gilbert Deputy Registrar of marriages

29 July 1918

Arthur Edward Davies
Gladys Metta Maria Baker

Arthur Edward Davies
Gladys Metta Maria Baker
💍 1918/4614

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Domestic

20
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Rotorua

4157

George Limelevel Wesley Davies Father

29 July 1918

H. E. Gilbert Deputy Registrar of marriages

No	19
Date of Notice	29 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Davies	Gladys Metta Maria Baker
	💍 1918/4614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	4157
Consent	George Limelevel Wesley Davies Father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1918
Officiating Minister	H. E. Gilbert Deputy Registrar of marriages

13 August 1918

Gordon Hughes
Bertha Glassy

Gordon Hughes
Bertha Clarry
💍 1918/4615

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
18

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Rotorua

4158

Henrietta Charlotte Pauline Doherty mother

13 August 1918

H. E. Gilbert Deputy Registrar of marriages

No	20
Date of Notice	13 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Hughes	Bertha Glassy
BDM Match (88%)	Gordon Hughes	Bertha Clarry
	💍 1918/4615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	4158
Consent	Henrietta Charlotte Pauline Doherty mother
Date of Certificate	13 August 1918
Officiating Minister	H. E. Gilbert Deputy Registrar of marriages

21 August 1918

George Irwin
Margaret Sophia Whiting

George Irwin
Margaret Sophia Whiting
💍 1918/5225

Bachelor
Divorced April 1918

Linesman
Domestic

39
39

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 months
3 days

St John's Presbyterian Church

4161

21 August 1918

Rev. J. Nixon Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	21 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Irwin	Margaret Sophia Whiting
	💍 1918/5225
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced April 1918
Profession	Linesman	Domestic
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church
Folio	4161
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Nixon Methodist

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).