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 1047

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

31 August 1918

Thomas Howse
Mary Ann Eldershaw (M.N. Butcher)

Thomas Howse
Mary Ann Eldershaw
💍 1918/4801

Widower 8th Jan 1918
Widow 8th July 1897

Retired farmer
Domestic Duties

71
48

Napier
Napier

8 days
8 days

Residence of John Butcher, 8 Sale Street, Napier

4346

31 August 1918

Rev. G. Menzies, Baptist

No	76
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Howse	Mary Ann Eldershaw (M.N. Butcher)
BDM Match (77%)	Thomas Howse	Mary Ann Eldershaw
	💍 1918/4801
Condition	Widower 8th Jan 1918	Widow 8th July 1897
Profession	Retired farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	71	48
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Residence of John Butcher, 8 Sale Street, Napier
Folio	4346
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Menzies, Baptist

2 September 1918

Harold Torode
Eileen Jane Omeagher

Harold Torode
Eileen Jane O'Meagher
💍 1918/4802

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

36
35

Napier
Napier

2 years
2 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

4347

2 September 1918

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	77
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Torode	Eileen Jane Omeagher
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Torode	Eileen Jane O'Meagher
	💍 1918/4802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	4347
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

2 September 1918

Stanley David Inns
Violet Mercer

Stanley David Inns
Violet Mercer
💍 1918/4803

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

33
22

Napier
Napier

1 year
1 year

St. Pauls Church Napier

4348

2 September 1918

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	78
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley David Inns	Violet Mercer
	💍 1918/4803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church Napier
Folio	4348
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

3 September 1918

Walter Frederick Suckling
Grace Emily Thomas

Walter Frederick Suckling
Grace Emily Thomas
💍 1918/4804

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Nurse

32
27

Napier
Napier

3 days
6 months

Trinity Methodist Church Napier

4349

3 September 1918

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	79
Date of Notice	3 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Frederick Suckling	Grace Emily Thomas
	💍 1918/4804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Nurse
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church Napier
Folio	4349
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

3 September 1918

Roy Alexander Ahern
Adeline May Livingstone

Roy Alexander Ahern
Adeline May Livingstone
💍 1918/4805

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

21
21

Napier
Napier

5 days
5 months

St. Patricks Church Napier

4350

3 September 1918

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	3 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Alexander Ahern	Adeline May Livingstone
	💍 1918/4805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	4350
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

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).