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 1275

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar Miller

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

2 April 1918

John James Cowan
Mary Frances Evelyn Perry

John James Cowan
Mary Frances Evelyn Perry
💍 1918/3168

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister
Domestic Duties

33
26

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
26 years

Church of the Epiphany Kuripuni Masterton

2785

2 April 1918

Rev. Richard Godfrey Church of England Minister

No	20
Date of Notice	2 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Cowan	Mary Frances Evelyn Perry
	💍 1918/3168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister	Domestic Duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Epiphany Kuripuni Masterton
Folio	2785
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Godfrey Church of England Minister

10 April 1918

Arthur Henry Reid Falloon
Evelyn Margaret Elliott

Arthur Henry Reid Falloon
Evelyn Margaret Elliott
💍 1918/3169

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

27
28

Masterton
Masterton

27 years
26 years

The house of James Elliott Masterton

2786

10 April 1918

Rev. J. A. Hosking Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	10 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Reid Falloon	Evelyn Margaret Elliott
	💍 1918/3169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	The house of James Elliott Masterton
Folio	2786
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hosking Methodist

10 April 1918

Benjamin Burgess
Annie Evelyn Florence Swanson

Benjamin Burgess
Annie Evelyn Florence Swanson
💍 1918/3170

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Machinist

21
27

Masterton
Masterton

4 months
1 month

Presbyterian Manse Masterton

2787

10 April 1918

Rev. R. Inglis Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	10 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Burgess	Annie Evelyn Florence Swanson
	💍 1918/3170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Machinist
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Masterton
Folio	2787
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis Presbyterian

12 April 1918

John Ness
Rosabel Cooke

John Neal
Rosabel Corke
💍 1918/3171

Divorced 5/4/18
Spinster

Casing scraper
Domestic duties

40
31

Masterton
Masterton

3 years
3 years

Wesleyan Church Masterton

2788

12 April 1918

Rev. J. A. Hosking Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	12 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ness	Rosabel Cooke
BDM Match (85%)	John Neal	Rosabel Corke
	💍 1918/3171
Condition	Divorced 5/4/18	Spinster
Profession	Casing scraper	Domestic duties
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Masterton
Folio	2788
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hosking Methodist

12 April 1918

Samuel O'Hara
Winifred Alice Street

Samuel O'Hara
Winifred Alice Street
💍 1918/3172

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

24
18

Masterton
Masterton

9 years
18 years

Anglican Church Whareama

2789

George Street father

12 April 1918

Rev. J. Walker Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	12 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel O'Hara	Winifred Alice Street
	💍 1918/3172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	9 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Whareama
Folio	2789
Consent	George Street father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker 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).