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 1196

District of Featherston Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. H. Dixon

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

4 February 1918

Charles Harold Gooding
Alice Gertrude Compston

Charles Harold Gooding
Alice Gertrude Compton
💍 1918/599

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

38
33

Cross Creek
Featherston

38 years
7 months

Registrar's Office, Featherston

1134

4 February 1918

J. H. Dixon, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Harold Gooding	Alice Gertrude Compston
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Harold Gooding	Alice Gertrude Compton
	💍 1918/599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Cross Creek	Featherston
Length of Residence	38 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Featherston
Folio	1134
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	J. H. Dixon, Registrar

9 February 1918

Frank Philip Attwood
Ethel Maud Simon

Frank Philip Attwood
Ethel Maud Simon
💍 1918/3494

Bachelor
Widow

Soldier
Clerk

25
27

Featherston
Mount Roskill

2 1/2 years
8 weeks

Church of England, Featherston

1135

9 February 1918

J. G. S. Bartlett

No	7
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Philip Attwood	Ethel Maud Simon
	💍 1918/3494
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Mount Roskill
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	8 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Featherston
Folio	1135
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	J. G. S. Bartlett

20 February 1918

Alfred William Elliott
Florence Stella Taylor

Alfred William Elliott
Florence Stella Taylor
💍 1918/600

Henry William John Muscutt
Florence Eveline Taylor
💍 1918/2499

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

34
24

Featherston
Featherston

1 year
4 months

Church of England, Featherston

1136

20 February 1918

J. G. S. Bartlett

No	8
Date of Notice	20 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Elliott	Florence Stella Taylor
	💍 1918/600
BDM Match (60%)	Henry William John Muscutt	Florence Eveline Taylor
	💍 1918/2499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	1 year	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Featherston
Folio	1136
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1918
Officiating Minister	J. G. S. Bartlett

22 February 1918

Edwin Thomas Leach
Mary Russell Davidson

Edwin Thomas Gash
Mary Russell Davidson
💍 1918/601

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

20
22

Featherston
Featherston

5 months
5 days

Presbyterian Church, Featherston

1137

Edwin Charles Leach, Father

22 February 1918

T. N. Tuttle

No	9
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Thomas Leach	Mary Russell Davidson
BDM Match (92%)	Edwin Thomas Gash	Mary Russell Davidson
	💍 1918/601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	5 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Featherston
Folio	1137
Consent	Edwin Charles Leach, Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	T. N. Tuttle

6 March 1918

Henry Andrews
Ellen Rollo

Henry Andrews
Ellen Rollo
💍 1918/602

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

32
23

Featherston
Featherston

10 months
2 months

United Institute, Featherston Military Camp

1138

6 March 1918

T. N. Tuttle

No	10
Date of Notice	6 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Andrews	Ellen Rollo
	💍 1918/602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	10 months	2 months
Marriage Place	United Institute, Featherston Military Camp
Folio	1138
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1918
Officiating Minister	T. N. Tuttle

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).