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 1054

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

105

8 November 1918

Samuel Moore
Eva Rutherford

Samuel Moore
Eva Rutherford
💍 1918/1696

Widower 14 Sept. 1912
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

38
37

Pakowhai
Taradale

20 months
3 months

Methodist Parsonage Napier

5805

8 November 1918

Rev. J. K. Richards Methodist

No	105
Date of Notice	8 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Moore	Eva Rutherford
	💍 1918/1696
Condition	Widower 14 Sept. 1912	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Pakowhai	Taradale
Length of Residence	20 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage Napier
Folio	5805
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Richards Methodist

106

9 November 1918

Arthur Hilson Kamlose
Ruth Ivy Laws

Arthur Hilson Ramlose
Ruth Ivy Laws
💍 1918/1697

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Dressmaker

35
30

Napier
Napier

3 days
30 years

Methodist Church Napier

5806

9 November 1918

Rev. J. K. Richards Methodist

No	106
Date of Notice	9 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hilson Kamlose	Ruth Ivy Laws
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Hilson Ramlose	Ruth Ivy Laws
	💍 1918/1697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Napier
Folio	5806
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Richards Methodist

107

15 November 1918

Harold Vere Welch
May Doris Alder

Harold Vere Welch
May Doris Alder
💍 1918/1698

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
24

Napier
Napier

6 weeks
10 days

Registrar's Office Napier

5807

15 November 1918

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	107
Date of Notice	15 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Vere Welch	May Doris Alder
	💍 1918/1698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 weeks	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5807
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

108

16 November 1918

Henry Leslie Skews
Maggie Kinzett

Henry Leslie Skews
Maggie Kinzett
💍 1918/1699

Bachelor
Widow 6th Aug. 1917

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic Duties

31
30

Napier
Petane

31 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Napier

5808

16 November 1918

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	108
Date of Notice	16 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Leslie Skews	Maggie Kinzett
	💍 1918/1699
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6th Aug. 1917
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Petane
Length of Residence	31 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5808
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

109

23 November 1918

Andrew James Anderson
Freda Robinson

Andrew James Anderson
Freda Robinson
💍 1918/1676

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman
Clerk

30
26

Napier
Napier

30 years
3 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

5809

23 November 1918

Rev. H. J. Simkin Church of England

No	109
Date of Notice	23 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew James Anderson	Freda Robinson
	💍 1918/1676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5809
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin Church of England

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).