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 841

District of Whakatane Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar G. Kilvington

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

4 February 1918

Frank Henry Pearse
Annie Reddy

Frank Henry Pearse
Annie Reddy
💍 1918/1232

Bachelor
Widow 27/3/1917

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
19

Whakatane
Whakatane

1 month
3 days

Registrars Office Whakatane

978

4 February 1918

G. Kilvington Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Henry Pearse	Annie Reddy
	💍 1918/1232
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27/3/1917
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whakatane
Length of Residence	1 month	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Whakatane
Folio	978
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	G. Kilvington Registrar

9 February 1918

Arthur Fraser
Esther Elizabeth Wright

Arthur Fraser
Esther Elizabeth Wright
💍 1918/1238

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

46
23

Taneatua
Taneatua

6 years
8 months

Church of England Taneatua

979

9 February 1918

Rev. H. W. Klingender Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Fraser	Esther Elizabeth Wright
	💍 1918/1238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	46	23
Dwelling Place	Taneatua	Taneatua
Length of Residence	6 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Taneatua
Folio	979
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Klingender Church of England

5 March 1918

Walter John Bush
Frances Elizabeth Muscutt

Walter John Bush
Frances Elizabeth Muscutt
💍 1918/1239

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Assistant
Domestic duties

29
21

Whakatane
Whakatane

7 years
5 years

Residence of H. Muscutt, Whakatane

980

5 March 1918

Mr. P. J. Mairs Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	5 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Bush	Frances Elizabeth Muscutt
	💍 1918/1239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whakatane
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Muscutt, Whakatane
Folio	980
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. P. J. Mairs Methodist

19 March 1918

Colin Campbell Aikman
Bertha Egmont Harwood

Colin Campbell Aikman
Bertha Egmont Harwood
💍 1918/1240

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic duties

43
25

Whakatane
Whakatane

3 days
2 months

Church of England Whakatane

981

19 March 1918

Rev. H. W. Klingender Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	19 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Campbell Aikman	Bertha Egmont Harwood
	💍 1918/1240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic duties
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whakatane
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Whakatane
Folio	981
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Klingender Church of England

30 March 1918

Daniel Ryan
Violet Sweet Rowe

Daniel Ryan
Violet Sweet Rowe
💍 1918/1241

Bachelor
Widow 25/4/1915

Saddler
Domestic duties

38
28

Whakatane
Whakatane

6 months
3 days

Residence of D. Ryan Whakatane

982

30 March 1918

Rev. W. McNeur Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Ryan	Violet Sweet Rowe
	💍 1918/1241
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 25/4/1915
Profession	Saddler	Domestic duties
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whakatane
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of D. Ryan Whakatane
Folio	982
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McNeur 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).