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 1205

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar E. G. Stainton

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

2 January 1918

Thomas Alfred Jarrett
Laura Hughes

Thomas Alfred Garrett
Laura Hughes
💍 1918/46

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

21
26

Feilding
Feilding

5 days
5 days

Anglican Church, Feilding

1140

2 January 1918

Rev. A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Jarrett	Laura Hughes
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Alfred Garrett	Laura Hughes
	💍 1918/46
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Feilding
Folio	1140
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

14 January 1918

John Aitken
Florence Gibbons

John Aitken
Florence Gibbons
💍 1918/605

Widower 9/8/1917
Widow 31/10/1904

Settler
Domestic Duties

72
62

Feilding
Feilding

2 years
1 year

The Residence of Mrs Florence Gibbons, King St, Feilding

1141

14 January 1918

Rev. C. D. Gardiner, Baptist

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Aitken	Florence Gibbons
	💍 1918/605
Condition	Widower 9/8/1917	Widow 31/10/1904
Profession	Settler	Domestic Duties
Age	72	62
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mrs Florence Gibbons, King St, Feilding
Folio	1141
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. D. Gardiner, Baptist

17 January 1918

George Pillington
Mathilde Olsen

George Gillington
Mathilde Olsen
💍 1918/606

Widower 8/3/1900
Spinster

Confectioner
Nurse

49
35

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
9 years

Registrar's Office, Post Office, Stafford Street, Feilding

1142

17 January 1918

Thomas Rowe, Ernest Corpe, Registrar, Brethren Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	17 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pillington	Mathilde Olsen
BDM Match (97%)	George Gillington	Mathilde Olsen
	💍 1918/606
Condition	Widower 8/3/1900	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Nurse
Age	49	35
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Post Office, Stafford Street, Feilding
Folio	1142
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Thomas Rowe, Ernest Corpe, Registrar, Brethren Minister

23 January 1918

Charles Alfred Lawrence Smith
Emily Isabel Burrell

Charles Alfred Lawrence Smith
Emily Isabel Burrell
💍 1918/607

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Domestic Duties

30
24

Coltenham Hamilton
Feilding

24 years

St Paul's Anglican Church

1143

23 January 1918

Rev. J. F. Mayo, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Lawrence Smith	Emily Isabel Burrell
	💍 1918/607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Coltenham Hamilton	Feilding
Length of Residence		24 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Anglican Church
Folio	1143
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Mayo, Anglican

8 February 1918

James Ritchie
Amy Edith Watts

James Ritchie
Amy Edith Watts
💍 1918/608

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
School Teacher

39
29

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
6 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Feilding

1144

8 February 1918

Thomas Miller, Rev. George Budd, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ritchie	Amy Edith Watts
	💍 1918/608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	School Teacher
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	1144
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Thomas Miller, Rev. George Budd, 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).