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 753

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar W. 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

5 June 1918

William Norman McLeod McFarlane
Rita Lee Dodd

William Norman McLeod McFarlane
Rita Lee Dodd
💍 1918/2909

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

29
23

Thames
Thames

3 days
23 years

St James Presbyterian Church Thames

2525

5 June 1918

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	5 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Norman McLeod McFarlane	Rita Lee Dodd
	💍 1918/2909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church Thames
Folio	2525
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

10 June 1918

William George Kerby
Florence Mildred Frear

William George Kerby
Florence Mildred Frear
💍 1918/2910

Bachelor
Spinster

Launchman
Domestic duties

18
19

Thames
Hopai

18 years
3 months

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street Thames

2526

William Kerby (father) and William Frear (father)

10 June 1918

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	10 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Kerby	Florence Mildred Frear
	💍 1918/2910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Launchman	Domestic duties
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Hopai
Length of Residence	18 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street Thames
Folio	2526
Consent	William Kerby (father) and William Frear (father)
Date of Certificate	10 June 1918
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

10 June 1918

John Richard Glynn
Martha May Miller

John Richard Flynn
Martha May Miller
💍 1918/2918

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
23

Turua
Kopuarahi

6 years
2 years

In the house of Mr J C Miller Kopuarahi

2527

10 June 1918

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	10 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Glynn	Martha May Miller
BDM Match (97%)	John Richard Flynn	Martha May Miller
	💍 1918/2918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Turua	Kopuarahi
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J C Miller Kopuarahi
Folio	2527
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

11 June 1918

Moses McReavy McOnie
Catherine Ann Buckley

Moses McLeay McOnie
Catherine Ann Buckley
💍 1918/2929

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Machinist

28
23

Thames
Thames

5 days
23 years

Roman Catholic Church Willoughby St. Thames

2528

11 June 1918

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	11 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moses McReavy McOnie	Catherine Ann Buckley
BDM Match (95%)	Moses McLeay McOnie	Catherine Ann Buckley
	💍 1918/2929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Machinist
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Willoughby St. Thames
Folio	2528
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

13 June 1918

Alick Mudgway
Elsie Florence McDonald

Alick Mudgway
Elsie Florence McDonald
💍 1918/2936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
20

Thames
Thames

15 months
20 years

In the Methodist Parsonage Queen Street Thames

2529

William Bramwell McDonald (father)

13 June 1918

Rev. S. J. Serpell, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	13 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alick Mudgway	Elsie Florence McDonald
	💍 1918/2936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	15 months	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Parsonage Queen Street Thames
Folio	2529
Consent	William Bramwell McDonald (father)
Date of Certificate	13 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Serpell, 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).