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 1045

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar W. Buchanan

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 August 1918

Joseph Patrick Williams
Amelia Young

Joseph Patrick Williams
Amelia Young
💍 1918/4790

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

25
23

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

6 years
23 years

St. Andrews Church, Port Ahuriri

4336

5 August 1918

Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

No	66
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Patrick Williams	Amelia Young
	💍 1918/4790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	4336
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

6 August 1918

Frederick William Seldon
Charlotte Jessie Burling Rogers

Frederick William Seldon
Charlotte Jessie Curling Rogers
💍 1918/4791

Bachelor
Spinster

Grain Merchant
Domestic Duties

40
22

Napier
Napier

3 days
2 months

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

4337

6 August 1918

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Seldon	Charlotte Jessie Burling Rogers
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Seldon	Charlotte Jessie Curling Rogers
	💍 1918/4791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grain Merchant	Domestic Duties
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	4337
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

9 August 1918

Charles William Knight
Olive Matilda Hawkes

Charles William Knight
Olive Matilda Hawkes
💍 1918/4792

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

27
21

Napier
Napier

8 years
2 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

4338

9 August 1918

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	68
Date of Notice	9 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Knight	Olive Matilda Hawkes
	💍 1918/4792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	4338
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

12 August 1918

Albert Bowie
Lillian Thelma Manning

Albert Bowie
Lillian Thelma Manning
💍 1918/4793

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Domestic Duties

24
20

Napier
Napier

4 years
11 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

4339

David Leonard Manning, Father

12 August 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	69
Date of Notice	12 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Bowie	Lillian Thelma Manning
	💍 1918/4793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	4339
Consent	David Leonard Manning, Father
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

14 August 1918

James Black
Elizabeth Bridget Milliard

James Black
Elizabeth Bridget Milliard
💍 1918/4794

Widower, 29th July 1916
Spinster

Signwriter
Saleswoman

49
37

Napier
Napier

32 years
2 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

4340

14 August 1918

Rev. W. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	14 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Black	Elizabeth Bridget Milliard
	💍 1918/4794
Condition	Widower, 29th July 1916	Spinster
Profession	Signwriter	Saleswoman
Age	49	37
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	32 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	4340
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Simkin, 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).