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 971

District of Waimate Plains Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar J. G. McGregor

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

24 April 1918

Sydney Andrew Scott
Ruby Kathleen Brook

Sydney Andrew Scott
Ruby Kathleen Crook
💍 1918/3041

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Housemaid

21
20

Manaia
Manaia

2 months
3 months

Methodist Church, Manaia

2634

Sarah Jane Brook, mother

24 April 1918

Rev. J. J. Parker, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	24 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Andrew Scott	Ruby Kathleen Brook
BDM Match (97%)	Sydney Andrew Scott	Ruby Kathleen Crook
	💍 1918/3041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Housemaid
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manaia
Folio	2634
Consent	Sarah Jane Brook, mother
Date of Certificate	24 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Parker, Methodist

15 May 1918

Arnold Engelberger
Rosa Sattler

Arnold Engelberger
Rosa Sattler
💍 1918/3042

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Farmer

27
26

Kaupokonui
Kaupokonui

5 years
11 years

Roman Catholic Church, Manaia

2635

15 May 1918

Rev. W. J. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	15 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Engelberger	Rosa Sattler
	💍 1918/3042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Farmer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Kaupokonui	Kaupokonui
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Manaia
Folio	2635
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

18 May 1918

John McKenna
Katherine Hughes

John McKenna
Katherine Hughes
💍 1918/3019

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
42

Manaia
Kapuni

15 years
37 years

Roman Catholic Church, Okaiawa

2636

18 May 1918

Rev. W. J. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	18 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKenna	Katherine Hughes
	💍 1918/3019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	42
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Kapuni
Length of Residence	15 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Okaiawa
Folio	2636
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

20 May 1918

William John Morris
Minnie Turley

William John Morris
Minnie Turley
💍 1918/3020

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
21

Okaiawa
Okaiawa

15 years
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Okaiawa

2637

20 May 1918

Rev. W. J. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Morris	Minnie Turley
	💍 1918/3020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Okaiawa	Okaiawa
Length of Residence	15 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Okaiawa
Folio	2637
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

7 June 1918

Norman Kenneth Macleod
Adelaide Morphett Sutherland

Norman Kenneth MacLeod
Adelaide Morphelt Sutherland
💍 1918/3021

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

23
20

Manaia
Manaia

2 years
life

St Cuthbert, Manaia

2638

Thomas Crombie Sutherland, father

7 June 1918

Rev. Wm Tye, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	7 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Kenneth Macleod	Adelaide Morphett Sutherland
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Kenneth MacLeod	Adelaide Morphelt Sutherland
	💍 1918/3021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	2 years	life
Marriage Place	St Cuthbert, Manaia
Folio	2638
Consent	Thomas Crombie Sutherland, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Tye, Church of England

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).