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 1213

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar J. Broadfoot

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

8 October 1918

William James Huddleston
Nellie Sanson Reid

William James Huddleston
Nellie Sansom Reid
💍 1918/6169

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
23

Makino
Makino

23 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church Feilding

5845

8 October 1918

Rev. J. Miller, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Huddleston	Nellie Sanson Reid
BDM Match (97%)	William James Huddleston	Nellie Sansom Reid
	💍 1918/6169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Makino	Makino
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	5845
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Miller, Presbyterian

12 October 1918

Harold John Batten
Bessie Olive Taylor

Harold John Batten
Bessie Olive Taylor
💍 1918/6170

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Feilding
Feilding

1 month
4 days

Church of England Feilding

5846

Mary Elizabeth Taylor, Mother

12 October 1918

Rev. A. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	12 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Batten	Bessie Olive Taylor
	💍 1918/6170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	1 month	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Feilding
Folio	5846
Consent	Mary Elizabeth Taylor, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Innes Jones, Anglican

29 October 1918

George Wallace Fairley
Mary Ellen Meekin

George Wallace Fairley
Mary Ellen Meekin
💍 1918/6171

Widower
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

36
33

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
2 days

Roman Catholic Church Feilding

5847

29 October 1918

Rev. M. M. Dwyer, Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	29 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wallace Fairley	Mary Ellen Meekin
	💍 1918/6171
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Feilding
Folio	5847
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. M. Dwyer, Roman Catholic

26 October 1918

John Lee
Eunice Mary Dexter

John Lee
Eunice May Dexter
💍 1918/6172

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Milliner

24
26

Wanganui
Feilding

8 years
3 days

Registrar's Office Post Office Feilding

5848

26 October 1918

Mr J. B. Broadfoot, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	26 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lee	Eunice Mary Dexter
BDM Match (97%)	John Lee	Eunice May Dexter
	💍 1918/6172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Milliner
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Feilding
Length of Residence	8 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Post Office Feilding
Folio	5848
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr J. B. Broadfoot, Registrar

28 October 1918

Frederick Edward Versen
Esther Lillian Lucas

Frederick Edward Versey
Esther Lillian Lucas
💍 1918/6173

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
23

Feilding
Feilding

1 year
1 year

Residence of G. H. Lucas, Aorangi, Feilding

5849

28 October 1918

Rev. Thomas Miller, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	28 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Edward Versen	Esther Lillian Lucas
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Edward Versey	Esther Lillian Lucas
	💍 1918/6173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of G. H. Lucas, Aorangi, Feilding
Folio	5849
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Miller, 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).