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 723

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar W. M. Diamond

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

7 October 1918

Daniel Augustine Gregan
Olive May Wild

Daniel Augustine Gregan
Olive May Wild
💍 1918/3286

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

37
27

Morrinsville
Te Aroha

-
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville

5651

7 October 1918

Rev. J. de Guiniss, Roman Catholic

No	15
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Augustine Gregan	Olive May Wild
	💍 1918/3286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	-	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville
Folio	5651
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. de Guiniss, Roman Catholic

19 November 1918

Walter Mather Ferguson
Daisy Morrison

Walter Mather Ferguson
Daisy Morrison
💍 1918/1674

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

28
23

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

16 years
9 years

Residence of J. D. Morrison, Church Street, Te Aroha

5684

19 November 1918

Rev. A. A. Armstrong, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	19 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Mather Ferguson	Daisy Morrison
	💍 1918/1674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	16 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. D. Morrison, Church Street, Te Aroha
Folio	5684
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Armstrong, Presbyterian

9 December 1918

William Frederick Fitzgerald
Gwendoline Dorothy Brewer

William Fredrick Fitzgerald
Gwendoline Dorothy Brenan
💍 1918/1652

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

12 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha

5685

9 December 1918

Rev. J. de Guiniss, Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Fitzgerald	Gwendoline Dorothy Brewer
BDM Match (92%)	William Fredrick Fitzgerald	Gwendoline Dorothy Brenan
	💍 1918/1652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha
Folio	5685
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. de Guiniss, Roman Catholic

23 December 1918

George Roome McCrae
Florrie May Lockyer

George Roome McCrae
Florrie May Lockyer
💍 1918/1653

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
23

Hungahunga
Hungahunga

3 weeks
10 years

Church of England, Manawaru

5686

23 December 1918

Rev. G. H. Morse, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	23 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Roome McCrae	Florrie May Lockyer
	💍 1918/1653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Hungahunga	Hungahunga
Length of Residence	3 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Manawaru
Folio	5686
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Morse, Anglican

30 December 1918

Henry Herbert Riley
Lilian Elizabeth Eastwood

Henry Herbert Riley
Lilian Elizabeth Eastwood
💍 1918/1654

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic duties

32
28

Merrieville
Merrieville

3 days
22 years

Methodist Church, Te Aroha

5687

30 December 1918

Rev. J. Dukes, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Herbert Riley	Lilian Elizabeth Eastwood
	💍 1918/1654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Merrieville	Merrieville
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Te Aroha
Folio	5687
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dukes, 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).