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 751

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar William H. Potts

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

3 April 1918

Richard Alfred Mulford
Hazel Thomas Costar

Richard Alfred Mulford
Hazel Thomas Costar
💍 1918/2898

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker
Domestic duties

30
19

Thames
Thames

4 weeks
1 year

In the Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames

2515

Christopher Costar (father)

3 April 1918

William H. Potts Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Alfred Mulford	Hazel Thomas Costar
	💍 1918/2898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 weeks	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	2515
Consent	Christopher Costar (father)
Date of Certificate	3 April 1918
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts Registrar

12 April 1918

Fredrick William Hopkin
Ethel Malcolm

Fredrick William Hopkin
Ethel Malcolm
💍 1918/2899

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

22
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames

2516

12 April 1918

Emily R. Potts Deputy Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	12 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick William Hopkin	Ethel Malcolm
	💍 1918/2899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	2516
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Emily R. Potts Deputy Registrar

16 April 1918

Archibald John McIntosh
Merepaea Tukaramaene

Archibald John McIntosh
Merepaea Tukaramaene
💍 1918/2900

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic duties

23
21

Hopai Hauraki Plains
Waitakaruru Hauraki Plains

7 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames

2517

16 April 1918

Emily R. Potts Deputy Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	16 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald John McIntosh	Merepaea Tukaramaene
	💍 1918/2900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hopai Hauraki Plains	Waitakaruru Hauraki Plains
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	2517
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Emily R. Potts Deputy Registrar

20 April 1918

John Howe
Jessie Lanning

John Howe
Jessie Lanning
💍 1918/2901

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

29
21

Thames
Thames

29 years
21 years

In the house of Mr E. Batten Mary Street Thames

2518

20 April 1918

Rev S. J. Serpell Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	20 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Howe	Jessie Lanning
	💍 1918/2901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	29 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr E. Batten Mary Street Thames
Folio	2518
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev S. J. Serpell Methodist

26 April 1918

James Walker
Annie Christabel Gulbransen

James Walters
Annie Christabel Gulbransen
💍 1918/2902

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

27
24

Matatoki
Puriri

17 years
2 years

In the Presbyterian Manse Rolleston Terrace Thames

2519

26 April 1918

Rev J Milne Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	26 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walker	Annie Christabel Gulbransen
BDM Match (92%)	James Walters	Annie Christabel Gulbransen
	💍 1918/2902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Puriri
Length of Residence	17 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Manse Rolleston Terrace Thames
Folio	2519
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne 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).