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 882

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar S. E. Daniel

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

28 February 1918

William Donaldson
Bee Teresa Browne

William Donaldson
Bee Teresa Browne
💍 1918/1237

Widower 17/8/1914
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
34

Whakamara
Whakamara

1 year
3 months

Roman Catholic Church Hawera

1000

28 February 1918

Rev J. J. Power Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	28 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donaldson	Bee Teresa Browne
	💍 1918/1237
Condition	Widower 17/8/1914	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Whakamara	Whakamara
Length of Residence	1 year	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hawera
Folio	1000
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Power Roman Catholic

12 March 1918

Abel Ernest Blake
Elizabeth Wilson Lupton

Abel Ernest Blake
Elizabeth Wilson Lupton
💍 1918/525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
31

Hawera
Hawera

6 days
3 days

Office of Registrar Hawera

1001

12 March 1918

S. E. Daniel Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abel Ernest Blake	Elizabeth Wilson Lupton
	💍 1918/525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Hawera
Folio	1001
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	S. E. Daniel Registrar

26 March 1918

Richard Henry Edward le Fleming
Mabel Gladys Parslow

Richard Henry Edward le Fleming
Mabel Gladys Parslow
💍 1918/536

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

25
21

Normanby
Normanby

3 years
4 years

Church of England Hawera

1002

26 March 1918

Rev C. H. Grant Cowen Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Edward le Fleming	Mabel Gladys Parslow
	💍 1918/536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Normanby
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hawera
Folio	1002
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. H. Grant Cowen Anglican

26 March 1918

Robert Armstrong
Ella Cecilia Bastin

Robert Armstrong
Ella Cecilia Bastin
💍 1918/541

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

25
28

Hawera
Hawera

3 months
3 months

Residence H. B. Gray Hawera

1003

26 March 1918

Rev H. B. Gray Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Armstrong	Ella Cecilia Bastin
	💍 1918/541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence H. B. Gray Hawera
Folio	1003
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray Presbyterian

30 March 1918

Arthur William Laurent
Gertrude Barton

Arthur William Laurent
Gertrude Barton
💍 1918/542

Bachelor
Spinster

Piano Tuner
Domestic Duties

23
25

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
5 years

Church of England Hawera

1004

30 March 1918

Rev C. H. Grant Cowen Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Laurent	Gertrude Barton
	💍 1918/542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Piano Tuner	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hawera
Folio	1004
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. H. Grant Cowen 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).