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 755

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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

18 July 1918

Ronald George McIntosh
Myrtle Ivy Strange

Ronald George McIntosh
Myrtle Ivy Strange
💍 1918/4666

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Dressmaker

25
26

Thames
Thames

5 days
3 months

In the house of Mr W. Strange Mt Pleasant Thames

4187

18 July 1918

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	18 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald George McIntosh	Myrtle Ivy Strange
	💍 1918/4666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Dressmaker
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. Strange Mt Pleasant Thames
Folio	4187
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

30 July 1918

Thomas Chaplin
Susan Lengakauti Gray

Thomas Chaplin
Susan Tengakauiti Gray
💍 1918/4667

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
23

Puriri
Puriri

9 years
1 year

In the Registrar Office Mary St Thames

4188

30 July 1918

W. H. Potts, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	30 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Chaplin	Susan Lengakauti Gray
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Chaplin	Susan Tengakauiti Gray
	💍 1918/4667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	9 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Registrar Office Mary St Thames
Folio	4188
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1918
Officiating Minister	W. H. Potts, Registrar

30 July 1918

Andrew John Lowery
Annie McRoberts

Andrew John Lowry
Annie McRoberts
💍 1918/4668

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

22
24

Hikutaia
Wharepoa

1 1/4 year
24 years

St Mary's Church of England Hikutaia

4189

30 July 1918

Rev F. B. Dobson, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	30 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew John Lowery	Annie McRoberts
BDM Match (97%)	Andrew John Lowry	Annie McRoberts
	💍 1918/4668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	1 1/4 year	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church of England Hikutaia
Folio	4189
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. B. Dobson, Church of England

26 August 1918

Frank Rayner
Rose Marion Marshall

Frank Rayner
Rose Marion Marshall
💍 1918/4669

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal miner
Domestic duties

24
21

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 years

In the house of Mr Marshall Queen Street Thames

4190

26 August 1918

R. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	29
Date of Notice	26 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Rayner	Rose Marion Marshall
	💍 1918/4669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Marshall Queen Street Thames
Folio	4190
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1918
Officiating Minister	R. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

31 August 1918

George Bastin Mead
Ruth Davidson

George Bastin Mead
Ruth Davidson
💍 1918/4670

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

36
27

Thames
Thames

2 years
2 years

In the Registrar Office Mary Street Thames

4191

31 August 1918

William H Potts, Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bastin Mead	Ruth Davidson
	💍 1918/4670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	4191
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, 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).