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 851

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar F. Bird

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

William Walter Baker
Ellen Fogden

William Walter Baker
Ellen Fodgen
💍 1918/2927

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Waitress

24
23

Onerahi
Onerahi

6 months
7 months

Registrar's Office Whangarei

2544

23 April 1918

F. Bird, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Baker	Ellen Fogden
BDM Match (92%)	William Walter Baker	Ellen Fodgen
	💍 1918/2927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Waitress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Onerahi	Onerahi
Length of Residence	6 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	2544
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1918
Officiating Minister	F. Bird, Registrar

3 April 1918

Bertie Reginald Miller
Margaret Neville

Bertie Reginald Miller
Margaret Neville
💍 1918/2928

Bachelor
Spinster

Undertaker
Clerk

29
30

Whangarei
Whangarei

5 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church Whangarei

2545

3 April 1918

Rev. C. B. Schoonhof, Roman Catholic Priest

No	10
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Reginald Miller	Margaret Neville
	💍 1918/2928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Undertaker	Clerk
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Whangarei
Folio	2545
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. B. Schoonhof, Roman Catholic Priest

10 April 1918

Harry Patterson
Eva Pearson McMillan

Harry Patterson
Eva Pearson McMillan
💍 1918/2930

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Waitress

18
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

18 years
12 months

Registrar's Office Whangarei

2546

David Dugald Patterson, Father (Groom); James Maxwell McMillan, Uncle (Bride)

10 April 1918

F. Bird, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	10 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Patterson	Eva Pearson McMillan
	💍 1918/2930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Waitress
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	18 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	2546
Consent	David Dugald Patterson, Father (Groom); James Maxwell McMillan, Uncle (Bride)
Date of Certificate	10 April 1918
Officiating Minister	F. Bird, Registrar

22 May 1918

Felix Kelly
Ida Sherrington

Felix Kelly
Ida Cherrington
💍 1918/2931

Widower 20 April 1917
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic

38
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 weeks

St Francis Xaviers Church Whangarei

2547

George Sherrington, Father

22 May 1918

Rev. C. B. Schoonhof, Roman Catholic Priest

No	12
Date of Notice	22 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Kelly	Ida Sherrington
BDM Match (97%)	Felix Kelly	Ida Cherrington
	💍 1918/2931
Condition	Widower 20 April 1917	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Francis Xaviers Church Whangarei
Folio	2547
Consent	George Sherrington, Father
Date of Certificate	22 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. B. Schoonhof, Roman Catholic Priest

24 May 1918

Frank William Nelson
Dorothy May Starr

Frank William Nelson
Dorothy May Starr
💍 1918/2932

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

21
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 years

Registrar's Office Whangarei

2548

Martha Elizabeth Starr, Mother

24 May 1918

F. Bird, Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	24 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Nelson	Dorothy May Starr
	💍 1918/2932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	2548
Consent	Martha Elizabeth Starr, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 May 1918
Officiating Minister	F. Bird, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).