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 1277

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar James 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 May 1918

William Herbert Digby Stilborn
Sarah Lucy Smith

William Herbert Digby Stilborn
Sarah Percy Smith
💍 1918/3179

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

43
29

Tinui
Masterton

30 years
1 year

Presbyterian Manse Masterton

2795

2 May 1918

Rev R. Inglis, Presbyterian Minister

No	30
Date of Notice	2 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Digby Stilborn	Sarah Lucy Smith
BDM Match (91%)	William Herbert Digby Stilborn	Sarah Percy Smith
	💍 1918/3179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	29
Dwelling Place	Tinui	Masterton
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Masterton
Folio	2795
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Inglis, Presbyterian Minister

31 May 1918

Colin James Cardno
Helena Jessie Simmons

Colin James Cardno
Helena Jessie Simmons
💍 1918/3180

Widower 14/6/16
Spinster

Soldier N.Z.E.F.
Domestic Duties

31
26

Featherston Camp
Masterton

11 months
18 years

Anglican Church Masterton

2796

31 May 1918

Rev John Walker, Church of England Minister

No	32
Date of Notice	31 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin James Cardno	Helena Jessie Simmons
	💍 1918/3180
Condition	Widower 14/6/16	Spinster
Profession	Soldier N.Z.E.F.	Domestic Duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Featherston Camp	Masterton
Length of Residence	11 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Masterton
Folio	2796
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John Walker, Church of England Minister

4 June 1918

Theodore Paton
Mona May Bishop

Theodore Paton
Mona May Bishop
💍 1918/3181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Milliner

23
21

Akihurst Masterton
Masterton

4 days
1/2 years

Anglican Church Masterton

2797

4 June 1918

Rev John Walker, Church of England Minister

No	33
Date of Notice	4 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Paton	Mona May Bishop
	💍 1918/3181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Milliner
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Akihurst Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 days	1/2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Masterton
Folio	2797
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John Walker, Church of England Minister

18 June 1918

Percy John Garrard Hopkins
Violet Rose Nation

Percy John Garrard Hopkins
Violet Rose Nation
💍 1918/3182

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

32
21

Featherston
Mangamahoe Masterton District

1 year
5 years

Office of Registrar Masterton

2798

18 June 1918

James Miller, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	18 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy John Garrard Hopkins	Violet Rose Nation
	💍 1918/3182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Mangamahoe Masterton District
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Masterton
Folio	2798
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1918
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

28 June 1918

Thomas John Horsley
Mary Ellen Livingstone

Percival John Horsley
Mary Ellen Livingstone
💍 1918/3183

Divorced Decree Absolute 9th September 1913
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

42
35

Masterton
Masterton

10 years
4 years

Office of Registrar Masterton

2799

28 June 1918

James Miller, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	28 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Horsley	Mary Ellen Livingstone
BDM Match (83%)	Percival John Horsley	Mary Ellen Livingstone
	💍 1918/3183
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 9th September 1913	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	35
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Masterton
Folio	2799
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1918
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

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).