Intentions to Marry, 1918 Aria to Hunterville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840477, 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.

1918c contains pages 865-1248, covering districts from Aria to Hunterville

Page 881

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar S. G. Daniel

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

10 January 1918

Ernest Deny Morpeth Rowland
Cora Margaret Nisbet

Ernest Denys Norfolk Rowland
Cora Margaret Nisbet
💍 1918/1231

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
School Teacher

22
27

Hawera
Hawera

3 weeks
3 weeks

Office Registrar Hawera

995

10 January 1918

Silvanus Gabriel Daniel, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Deny Morpeth Rowland	Cora Margaret Nisbet
BDM Match (89%)	Ernest Denys Norfolk Rowland	Cora Margaret Nisbet
	💍 1918/1231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	School Teacher
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office Registrar Hawera
Folio	995
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Silvanus Gabriel Daniel, Registrar

1 February 1918

Robert Bryan Douglas
Eleanor Alice Olsen

Robert Bryan Douglas
Eleanor Alice Olsen
💍 1918/1233

Widower 15/6/1913
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

36
26

Hawera
Hawera

36 Years
6 Years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Hawera

996

1 February 1918

Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bryan Douglas	Eleanor Alice Olsen
	💍 1918/1233
Condition	Widower 15/6/1913	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	36 Years	6 Years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Hawera
Folio	996
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

6 February 1918

Joseph Mullions
Maud Mary Whiting

Joseph Mullions
Maude Mary Whiting
💍 1918/1234

Bachelor
Widow 6/5/1914

Farmer
Housekeeper

45
36

Normanby
Normanby

24 Years
16 Years

Residence of Joseph Mullions Mountain Road Normanby

997

6 February 1918

Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	6 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Mullions	Maud Mary Whiting
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Mullions	Maude Mary Whiting
	💍 1918/1234
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6/5/1914
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Normanby
Length of Residence	24 Years	16 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Mullions Mountain Road Normanby
Folio	997
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

9 February 1918

Frank Crawford Dunlop
Ada Muggeridge

Frank Cranford Dunlop
Ada Muggeridge
💍 1918/1235

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
24

Ararata
Hawera

10 months
24 Years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Hawera

998

9 February 1918

Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Crawford Dunlop	Ada Muggeridge
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Cranford Dunlop	Ada Muggeridge
	💍 1918/1235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ararata	Hawera
Length of Residence	10 months	24 Years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Hawera
Folio	998
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

18 February 1918

James Mill Taylor
Juanita Constance Mercier

James Mill Taylor
Juanita Constance Mercier
💍 1918/1236

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm manager
Domestic duties

27
21

Hurleyville
Hawera

3 days
7 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Hawera

999

18 February 1918

Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mill Taylor	Juanita Constance Mercier
	💍 1918/1236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm manager	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hurleyville	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Hawera
Folio	999
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray, 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).