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 1206

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

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

12 February 1918

William James Thornhill
Mary Jane Young

William James Thornhill
Mary Jane Young
💍 1918/610

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

28
43

Feilding
Rewahuri

3 days
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Feilding

1145

12 February 1918

Rev. Father M. M. O'Dwyer, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Thornhill	Mary Jane Young
	💍 1918/610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	43
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Rewahuri
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Feilding
Folio	1145
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father M. M. O'Dwyer, Roman Catholic

25 February 1918

Harvey Arthur Edward Bocking
Margaret Louisa Bright

Harvey Arthur Edward Bocking
Margaret Louisa Bright
💍 1918/611

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

32
17

Feilding
Cheltenham

3 days
5 months

Residence of Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Feilding

1146

Joseph William Bright, Father

25 February 1918

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harvey Arthur Edward Bocking	Margaret Louisa Bright
	💍 1918/611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	32	17
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Cheltenham
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Feilding
Folio	1146
Consent	Joseph William Bright, Father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

26 February 1918

George Gilbert Thurston
Lily Jane Ivy

George Gilbert Thurston
Lily Jane Guy
💍 1918/612

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

20
26

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
5 months

Methodist Church, Feilding

1147

Janet Currie Thurston, Mother

26 February 1918

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	26 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gilbert Thurston	Lily Jane Ivy
BDM Match (92%)	George Gilbert Thurston	Lily Jane Guy
	💍 1918/612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	20	26
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Feilding
Folio	1147
Consent	Janet Currie Thurston, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

6 March 1918

Frederick Flavall
Bessie Amelia Managh

Frederick Flavell
Bessie Amelia Managh
💍 1918/1895

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and Joiner
Clerk

28
22

Feilding
Halcombe

20 years

Methodist Church, Halcombe

1156

6 March 1918

Rev. P. W. Jones, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	6 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Flavall	Bessie Amelia Managh
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Flavell	Bessie Amelia Managh
	💍 1918/1895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and Joiner	Clerk
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Halcombe
Length of Residence	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Halcombe
Folio	1156
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones, Methodist

12 March 1918

John Heald
Lillian Ingram Gould

John Heald
Lilian Ingram Gould
💍 1918/613

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
23

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
14 years

Residence Benjamin Gould, North Rd, Feilding

1148

12 March 1918

Rev. P. W. Jones, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Heald	Lillian Ingram Gould
BDM Match (98%)	John Heald	Lilian Ingram Gould
	💍 1918/613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence Benjamin Gould, North Rd, Feilding
Folio	1148
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones, Methodist

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).