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 1051

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 October 1918

Peter Paterson Smith
Evelyn Gladys Harlow

Peter Paterson Smith
Evelyn Gladys Harlaw
💍 1918/6115

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Duties

31
21

Napier
Napier

6 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church Taradale

5791

1 October 1918

Rev. R. F. Fish Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Paterson Smith	Evelyn Gladys Harlow
BDM Match (98%)	Peter Paterson Smith	Evelyn Gladys Harlaw
	💍 1918/6115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taradale
Folio	5791
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Fish Presbyterian

1 October 1918

Gustavus Ghewnd
Ada Margaret Guptill

Gustavus Chewns
Ada Margaret Guptill
💍 1918/6116

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Servant

38
28

Napier
Napier

4 months
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Napier

5792

1 October 1918

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	91
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustavus Ghewnd	Ada Margaret Guptill
BDM Match (93%)	Gustavus Chewns	Ada Margaret Guptill
	💍 1918/6116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Servant
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5792
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

1 October 1918

John Thomas Bahill
Elizabeth Blair

John Thomas Cahill
Elizabeth Mair
💍 1918/6117

Widower 4 July 1917
Spinster

Government Wool Valuer
Lady Help

48
25

Napier
Napier

2 years
1 year

1 Edwards Street Napier

5793

1 October 1918

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	92
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Bahill	Elizabeth Blair
BDM Match (91%)	John Thomas Cahill	Elizabeth Mair
	💍 1918/6117
Condition	Widower 4 July 1917	Spinster
Profession	Government Wool Valuer	Lady Help
Age	48	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	1 Edwards Street Napier
Folio	5793
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

2 October 1918

John Douglas Martin
Doris Jessie Wainscott

John Douglas Martin
Doris Jessie Wainscott
💍 1918/6118

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Telephone Clerk

21
21

Taradale
Taradale

3 days
3 years

Presbyterian Church Taradale

5794

2 October 1918

Rev. R. F. Fish Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	2 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas Martin	Doris Jessie Wainscott
	💍 1918/6118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Telephone Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taradale
Folio	5794
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Fish Presbyterian

2 October 1918

Wilfred Peck
Ellen Christina Kendrick

Wilfred Peck
Ellen Christina Kendrick
💍 1918/6120

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

25
19

Dannevirke
Napier

4 years
1 month

Registrar's Office Napier

5795

Henrietta Peck formerly Kendrick Mother

2 October 1918

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	94
Date of Notice	2 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Peck	Ellen Christina Kendrick
	💍 1918/6120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5795
Consent	Henrietta Peck formerly Kendrick Mother
Date of Certificate	2 October 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

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).