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 1385

District of Sanson Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar Rose Richardson

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

1 July 1918

Stanley William Curran
Kathleen Maud Gifford

Stanley William Curran
Kathleen Maud Gifford
💍 1918/4926

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

23
25

Rongotea
Sanson

24 hours
23 years

Methodist Church Rongotea

4496

1 July 1918

Rev. F. W. Boys, Wesleyan

No	4
Date of Notice	1 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley William Curran	Kathleen Maud Gifford
	💍 1918/4926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Sanson
Length of Residence	24 hours	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Rongotea
Folio	4496
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Boys, Wesleyan

4 July 1918

Richard William Wrightson
Phyllis Carrie McKenzie

Richard William Wrightson
Phyllis Carrie McKenzie
💍 1918/1497

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

24
27

Carnarvon
Carnarvon

2 months
27 years

Residence of Mrs McKenzie, mother of bride, Clydesdale, Carnarvon

4498

4 July 1918

Rev. H. Fountain, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	4 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard William Wrightson	Phyllis Carrie McKenzie
	💍 1918/1497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Carnarvon	Carnarvon
Length of Residence	2 months	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McKenzie, mother of bride, Clydesdale, Carnarvon
Folio	4498
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Fountain, Presbyterian

12 July 1918

Alfred Anderson
Kathleen Gertrude Richards

Alfred Anderson
Kathleen Gertrude Richards
💍 1918/1498

Widower 6/7/18
Spinster Minor

Clerk
Domestic Duties

43
19

Sanson
Sanson

39 years
6 years

Residence of W. J. Richards, Sanson

4499

W. J. Richards, Father of Bride

12 July 1918

Rev. H. Fountain, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	12 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Anderson	Kathleen Gertrude Richards
	💍 1918/1498
Condition	Widower 6/7/18	Spinster Minor
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	43	19
Dwelling Place	Sanson	Sanson
Length of Residence	39 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. J. Richards, Sanson
Folio	4499
Consent	W. J. Richards, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	12 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Fountain, Presbyterian

29 July 1918

George Raymond Bowery Kilsby
Alice Marian Harris

George Raymond Boury Kilsby
Alice Marion Harris
💍 1918/1499

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

22
25

Featherston Military Camp
Sanson

5 months
16 years

Wesleyan Church Sanson

4500

29 July 1918

Rev. B. James, Wesleyan

No	7
Date of Notice	29 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Raymond Bowery Kilsby	Alice Marian Harris
BDM Match (94%)	George Raymond Boury Kilsby	Alice Marion Harris
	💍 1918/1499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Featherston Military Camp	Sanson
Length of Residence	5 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Sanson
Folio	4500
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. James, Wesleyan

31 July 1918

Ernest Nelson Butler
Henrietta Winifred Sanson

Ernest Nelson Butler
Henrietta Winifred Sanson
💍 1918/4935

Bachelor Minor
Spinster Minor

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

20
20

Ohakea
Ohakea

3 days
20 years

Wesleyan Church Sanson

4501

William Raymond Butler, Father of groom; Alfred Henry Sanson, Father of bride

31 July 1918

Rev. B. James, Wesleyan

No	8
Date of Notice	31 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Nelson Butler	Henrietta Winifred Sanson
	💍 1918/4935
Condition	Bachelor Minor	Spinster Minor
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Ohakea	Ohakea
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Sanson
Folio	4501
Consent	William Raymond Butler, Father of groom; Alfred Henry Sanson, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	31 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. James, Wesleyan

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).