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 1339

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 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

4 September 1918

Alfred John Johanson
Gladys Bradley

Alfred John Johanson
Gladys Bradley
💍 1918/4932

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

31
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

31 years
6 months

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

4479

4 September 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	92
Date of Notice	4 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Johanson	Gladys Bradley
	💍 1918/4932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	31 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	4479
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

5 September 1918

Ernest Lyall Russell
Annie Emma Mabel Hawke

Ernest Lyall Russell
Annie Emma Mabel Hawke
💍 1918/4933

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
24

Rangitane
Rangitane

13 years
1 year

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

4480

5 September 1918

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	93
Date of Notice	5 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Lyall Russell	Annie Emma Mabel Hawke
	💍 1918/4933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Rangitane	Rangitane
Length of Residence	13 years	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	4480
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

5 September 1918

Thomas Stothard
Annie Newbery

Thomas Stothard
Annie Newbery
💍 1918/4934

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Domestic

33
34

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

18 months
6 years

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

4481

5 September 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	94
Date of Notice	5 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stothard	Annie Newbery
	💍 1918/4934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Domestic
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	18 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	4481
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

9 September 1918

Charles Edward Foster
Agnes Parker

Charles Edward Foster
Agnes Parker
💍 1918/4911

Bachelor
Married, (not seen or heard of husband for the last eight years)

Scutcher
Domestic

29
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

4482

9 September 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	9 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Foster	Agnes Parker
	💍 1918/4911
Condition	Bachelor	Married, (not seen or heard of husband for the last eight years)
Profession	Scutcher	Domestic
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	4482
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

9 September 1918

William Devine
Euphemia Margaret Meston

William Devine
Euphemia Margaret Meston
💍 1918/4134

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic

55
37

Palmerston North
Wellington

18 years
15 years

Boulcott Street Roman Catholic Church Wellington

3698

9 September 1918

Rev Stanislaus Mahony Wellington Roman Catholic

No	96
Date of Notice	9 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Devine	Euphemia Margaret Meston
	💍 1918/4134
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic
Age	55	37
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Boulcott Street Roman Catholic Church Wellington
Folio	3698
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Stanislaus Mahony Wellington Roman Catholic

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).