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 1327

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

9 May 1918

Carl Anton Bredahl Neilsen
Lillian Lucy Riggs

Carl Anton Bredahl Neilsen
Lillian Lucy Riggs
💍 1918/3207

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

30
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
2 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

2823

9 May 1918

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Anton Bredahl Neilsen	Lillian Lucy Riggs
	💍 1918/3207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	2823
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

11 May 1918

Frank William Squire Ellis
Gladys Myrtle Smith

Frank William Squire Ellis
Gladys Myrtle Smith
💍 1918/3208

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Home duties

22
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 week
10 weeks

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

2824

11 May 1918

Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	11 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Squire Ellis	Gladys Myrtle Smith
	💍 1918/3208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Home duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 week	10 weeks
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	2824
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

18 May 1918

Arthur Alexander Ericksen
Kathleen Mary Quinlan

Arthur Alexander Ericksen
Kathleen Mary Quinlan
💍 1918/3209

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

29
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

2825

18 May 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	18 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Alexander Ericksen	Kathleen Mary Quinlan
	💍 1918/3209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	2825
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

18 May 1918

Richard Knowles
Holly Myrtle Aplin

Richard Knowles
Holly Myrtle Aplin
💍 1918/3217

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

2826

18 May 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	18 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Knowles	Holly Myrtle Aplin
	💍 1918/3217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	2826
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

20 May 1918

William Herbert Carroll
Ethel Louie Watson

William Herbert Carroll
Ethel Louie Watson
💍 1918/3228

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer
Salvation Army Officer

27
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Salvation Army Barracks Palmerston North

2827

20 May 1918

Commissioner H. C. Hodder Salvation Army

No	41
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Carroll	Ethel Louie Watson
	💍 1918/3228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer	Salvation Army Officer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks Palmerston North
Folio	2827
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Commissioner H. C. Hodder Salvation Army

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).