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 1116

District of Wairoa Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J.P. Crichton

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

27 February 1918

William Tapley Whealen
Mary Lambert

William Tapley Whealen
Mary Lambert
💍 1918/645

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
Domestic duties

47
29

Wairoa
Wairoa

6 years
29 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Wairoa

1106

27 February 1918

Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	27 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tapley Whealen	Mary Lambert
	💍 1918/645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Domestic duties
Age	47	29
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	6 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Wairoa
Folio	1106
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

12 March 1918

Archibald Grant-Forbes
Annie Tucker

Archibald Grant Forbes
Annie Tucker
💍 1918/1275

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Nurse

36 years
34 years

Wairoa
Hastings

5 days
6 months

St. Columbus Church Havelock north

1064

12 March 1918

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Grant-Forbes	Annie Tucker
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Grant Forbes	Annie Tucker
	💍 1918/1275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Nurse
Age	36 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 days	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Columbus Church Havelock north
Folio	1064
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

12 March 1918

Albert John Anderson
Ellen Olive Nilsson

Albert John Anderson
Ellen Olive Nilsson
💍 1918/646

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Manager
Domestic duties

29 years
27 years

Wairoa
Ardkeen Wairoa

8 years
12 years

St-Pauls Anglican Church Wairoa

1107

12 March 1918

Rev. G. H. N. Watson, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Anderson	Ellen Olive Nilsson
	💍 1918/646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Manager	Domestic duties
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Ardkeen Wairoa
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St-Pauls Anglican Church Wairoa
Folio	1107
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. N. Watson, Anglican

19 March 1918

Robert Hugh Murray McPhail
Beatrice Upton

Robert Hugh Murray McPhail
Beatrice Upton
💍 1918/647

Widower 27/5/1916
Widow 22/9/1914

Farmer
Domestic

53 years
31 years

Wairoa
Wairoa

10 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. P. Watson Tuhara Wairoa

1108

19 March 1918

Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	19 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hugh Murray McPhail	Beatrice Upton
	💍 1918/647
Condition	Widower 27/5/1916	Widow 22/9/1914
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	53 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. P. Watson Tuhara Wairoa
Folio	1108
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Raeburn, Presbyterian

26 March 1918

Arthur John Wilson
Millicent Daisy Isabelle Nickalls

Arthur John Wilson
Millicent Daisy Isabelle Nicholls
💍 1918/624

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic duties

32 years
21 years

Wairoa
Wairoa

32 years
21 years

Church of England Wairoa

1109

26 March 1918

Rev. H. G. Pelham Watson, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Wilson	Millicent Daisy Isabelle Nickalls
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur John Wilson	Millicent Daisy Isabelle Nicholls
	💍 1918/624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic duties
Age	32 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	32 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Wairoa
Folio	1109
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Pelham Watson, 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).