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 1313

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar D. J. Bourke

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

3 April 1918

Cecil William John Miller
Ruby Annie Barrell

Cecil William John Miller
Ruby Annie Barrell
💍 1918/3215

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
21

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
21 years

Church of England Pahiatua

2808

4 April 1918

Rev. H. H. Monaghan

No	4
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil William John Miller	Ruby Annie Barrell
	💍 1918/3215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Pahiatua
Folio	2808
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Monaghan

10 April 1918

Berkeley Buckingham Stafford
Frances Mary Chaytor

Berkeley Buckingham Stafford
Frances Mary Chaytor
💍 1918/3216

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic Duties

52
41

Mangatainoka
Mangatainoka

3 days
6 weeks

Church of England Mangatainoka

2809

10 April 1918

Rev. R. Hermon

No	5
Date of Notice	10 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Berkeley Buckingham Stafford	Frances Mary Chaytor
	💍 1918/3216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	52	41
Dwelling Place	Mangatainoka	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Mangatainoka
Folio	2809
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hermon

24 April 1918

William Gilbert Simmons
Maud Rowena Griffith

William Gilbert Summons
Maud Rowena Griffith
💍 1918/3193

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Clerk

36
23

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
4 years

Church of England Pahiatua

2810

24 April 1918

Rev. H. H. Monaghan

No	6
Date of Notice	24 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gilbert Simmons	Maud Rowena Griffith
BDM Match (98%)	William Gilbert Summons	Maud Rowena Griffith
	💍 1918/3193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Clerk
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Pahiatua
Folio	2810
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Monaghan

13 May 1918

James Thomas Dungan
Vera Ellen Hunt

James Thomas Dungan
Eva Ellen Hunt
💍 1918/3194

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
19

Mangatainoka
Mangatainoka

30 years
7 years

Residence of Mr G. H. Avery Pahiatua

2811

Thomas Harold Hunt - Father

13 May 1918

Rev. R. Welsh

No	7
Date of Notice	13 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Dungan	Vera Ellen Hunt
BDM Match (90%)	James Thomas Dungan	Eva Ellen Hunt
	💍 1918/3194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	19
Dwelling Place	Mangatainoka	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. H. Avery Pahiatua
Folio	2811
Consent	Thomas Harold Hunt - Father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Welsh

13 May 1918

Martin Luoni
Elizabeth Bridget Bourke

Martin Luoni
Elizabeth Bridget Bourke
💍 1918/3130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
26

Hamua
Hamua

7 days
26 years

Roman Catholic Church Hamua

2746

13 May 1918

Rev. E. Phelan

No	8
Date of Notice	13 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Luoni	Elizabeth Bridget Bourke
	💍 1918/3130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Hamua	Hamua
Length of Residence	7 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hamua
Folio	2746
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Phelan

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).