Intentions to Marry, 1918 Levin to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840478, 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.

1918d contains pages 1249-1646, covering districts from Levin to Wellington

Page 1249

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar H. H. Cork

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

20 February 1918

George William Garard
Ada Symonds

George William Garard
Ada Symonds
💍 1918/1874

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
16

Ohau
Ohau

4 months
Four days

Residence of Walter Frank Garard, Ohau

159

Robert Symonds, Father

26 February 1918

Rev. W. H. E. Abbey, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	20 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Garard	Ada Symonds
	💍 1918/1874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	16
Dwelling Place	Ohau	Ohau
Length of Residence	4 months	Four days
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter Frank Garard, Ohau
Folio	159
Consent	Robert Symonds, Father
Date of Certificate	26 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. E. Abbey, Methodist

6 March 1918

Frederick Henry Burton
Fioriori Tangatakinō

Fredrick Henry Burton
Tioriori Taugatakino Rikihona
💍 1918/1875

Bachelor
Spinster

General Carrier
Domestic Duties

25
23

Levin
Levin

5 days
three months

Residence of Charles Bell, Main County Road, Weraroa

1160

6 March 1918

Te Muera Tokoaitua, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	6 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Burton	Fioriori Tangatakinō
BDM Match (77%)	Fredrick Henry Burton	Tioriori Taugatakino Rikihona
	💍 1918/1875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	5 days	three months
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Bell, Main County Road, Weraroa
Folio	1160
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Te Muera Tokoaitua, Church of England

23 March 1918

Jens Peter Petersen
Gertrude Jones

Jens Peter Petersen
Gertrude Jones
💍 1918/1891

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

47
31

Levin
Foxton

31 years
6 years

Methodist Church, Foxton

1152

23 March 1918

Rev. Arthur Harding, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jens Peter Petersen	Gertrude Jones
	💍 1918/1891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	47	31
Dwelling Place	Levin	Foxton
Length of Residence	31 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Foxton
Folio	1152
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Harding, Methodist

27 March 1918

Walter Stace Hawkins
Emma Ada Andrews

Walter Stace Hawkins
Emma Ada Andrews
💍 1918/1876

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

29
33

Levin
Levin

3 days
3 weeks

Residence of James Andrews, Cambridge Street, Levin

1161

27 March 1918

Rev. W. H. E. Abbey, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	27 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stace Hawkins	Emma Ada Andrews
	💍 1918/1876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of James Andrews, Cambridge Street, Levin
Folio	1161
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. E. Abbey, Methodist

28 March 1918

James Harold Andrews
Myrtle Coley

James Harold Andrews
Myrtle Whiley
💍 1918/1877

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

28
22

Levin
Ohau

3 days
22 years

Century Hall, Levin

1162

28 March 1918

Henry Curran, Aotearoa Undenominational Mission

No	5
Date of Notice	28 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harold Andrews	Myrtle Coley
BDM Match (88%)	James Harold Andrews	Myrtle Whiley
	💍 1918/1877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Ohau
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Century Hall, Levin
Folio	1162
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Henry Curran, Aotearoa Undenominational Mission

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).