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 1210

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar J. S. 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

30 July 1918

William Madman Ross
Maude Jennet Doughty

William Wadman Ross
Maude Jennet Doughty
💍 1918/4849

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

28
29

Feilding
Feilding

17 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church Feilding

4399

30 July 1918

Rev. Thomas Miller, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	30 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Madman Ross	Maude Jennet Doughty
BDM Match (97%)	William Wadman Ross	Maude Jennet Doughty
	💍 1918/4849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	17 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	4399
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Miller, Presbyterian

13 August 1918

Alfred David Williams
Mary Lester

Alfred David Williams
Mary Foster
💍 1918/4855

Bachelor
Widow

Slaughter-man
Wool sorter

37
36

Feilding
Feilding

all his life (37 years)
all her life (36 years)

Presbyterian Church Feilding

4401

13 August 1918

Rev. Thomas Miller, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	13 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred David Williams	Mary Lester
BDM Match (91%)	Alfred David Williams	Mary Foster
	💍 1918/4855
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Slaughter-man	Wool sorter
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	all his life (37 years)	all her life (36 years)
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	4401
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Miller, Presbyterian

04 September 1918

Henry William Murphy
Ethel Grimmer

Henry William Murphy
Ethel Grimmer
💍 1918/4856

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Household Duties

32
24

Feilding
Feilding

3 weeks
5 weeks

Roman Catholic Church Feilding

4402

04 September 1918

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

No	28
Date of Notice	04 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Murphy	Ethel Grimmer
	💍 1918/4856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Household Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Feilding
Folio	4402
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. M. O.Dwyer, Roman Catholic

12 September 1918

Richard Norman Johns
Ivy Violet Edmonds

Richard Norman Johns
Ivy Violet Edmonds
💍 1918/4857

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

43
30

Feilding
Feilding

5 days
5 days

Office of Registrar of marriages Feilding

4403

12 September 1918

J. S. Broadfoot, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	12 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Norman Johns	Ivy Violet Edmonds
	💍 1918/4857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages Feilding
Folio	4403
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1918
Officiating Minister	J. S. Broadfoot, Registrar

14 September 1918

James Henry Laing
Beatrice Mary Alice Rodgers

James Henry Laing
Beatrice Alice Mary Rodgers
💍 1918/4858

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

33
26

Colyton
Feilding

33 years
2 years

Church of England Feilding

4404

14 September 1918

Rev. A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	14 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Laing	Beatrice Mary Alice Rodgers
BDM Match (82%)	James Henry Laing	Beatrice Alice Mary Rodgers
	💍 1918/4858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Colyton	Feilding
Length of Residence	33 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Feilding
Folio	4404
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Innes Jones, Anglican

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).