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 1024

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar R. Braithwaite

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

25 October 1918

Arthur Doon
Carrie Epplett

Arthur Woon
Carrie Epplett
💍 1918/6099

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
31

Havelock North
Havelock North

42 years
31 years

Baptist Church Hastings

5774

25 October 1918

Rev. H. G. Edridge

No	80
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Doon	Carrie Epplett
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Woon	Carrie Epplett
	💍 1918/6099
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	42 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Hastings
Folio	5774
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Edridge

25 October 1918

Douglas Roots
Elizabeth Beatrice Cavell

Douglas Roots
Elizabeth Beatrice Cavell
💍 1918/6100

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

30
26

Hastings
Hastings

5 days
7 weeks

Presbyterian Church Hastings

5775

25 October 1918

Rev. W. J. Gow

No	81
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Roots	Elizabeth Beatrice Cavell
	💍 1918/6100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 days	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hastings
Folio	5775
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Gow

29 October 1918

William Maynard Early
Dorothy Frances Hewitt

William Maynard Early
Dorothy Frances Hewitt
💍 1918/6108

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Domestic duties

39
29

Hastings
Hastings

3 1/2 days
6 years

St. Matthews Hastings

5776

29 October 1918

Rev. Collier

No	82
Date of Notice	29 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Maynard Early	Dorothy Frances Hewitt
	💍 1918/6108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Domestic duties
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 1/2 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Hastings
Folio	5776
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Collier

1 November 1918

William George Wood
Helen Francis Gibbins

William George Wood
Helen Francis Gibbins
💍 1918/6119

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Domestic

27
22

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
2 1/2 years

Baptist Church Hastings

5777

1 November 1918

Rev. H. G. Edridge

No	83
Date of Notice	1 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Wood	Helen Francis Gibbins
	💍 1918/6119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Hastings
Folio	5777
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Edridge

4 November 1918

Archibald William McDonald
Rachel Catherine Anderson

Archibald William McDonald
Rachel Catherine Anderson
💍 1918/6125

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Dressmaker

26
21

Poukawa Hastings
Paki Paki Hastings

20 years
8 years

English Church Hastings

5778

4 November 1918

Rev. Blathwayt

No	84
Date of Notice	4 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald William McDonald	Rachel Catherine Anderson
	💍 1918/6125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Dressmaker
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Poukawa Hastings	Paki Paki Hastings
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	English Church Hastings
Folio	5778
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Blathwayt

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).