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 1399

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar A. C. W. Murdoch

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

18 April 1918

Frank Turpin
Jeanie Robertson

Frank Turpin
Jennie Robertson
💍 1918/3265

Widower
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

50
40

Ohutu
Ohutu

6 months
3 months

Registrar's Office Taihape

2858

18 April 1918

B J Mussen Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	18 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Turpin	Jeanie Robertson
BDM Match (97%)	Frank Turpin	Jennie Robertson
	💍 1918/3265
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	50	40
Dwelling Place	Ohutu	Ohutu
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Taihape
Folio	2858
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1918
Officiating Minister	B J Mussen Registrar

13 May 1918

Bert Rankawa
Mary Hain

Bert Raukawa
Mary Ham
💍 1918/3266

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
21

Bennetts Siding Taihape
Bennetts Siding Taihape

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Taihape

2859

13 April 1918

A C W Murdoch Deputy Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	13 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Rankawa	Mary Hain
BDM Match (85%)	Bert Raukawa	Mary Ham
	💍 1918/3266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Bennetts Siding Taihape	Bennetts Siding Taihape
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Taihape
Folio	2859
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1918
Officiating Minister	A C W Murdoch Deputy Registrar

5 June 1918

Stanley Floyd
Ivy Oliver Nicholson

Stanley Floyd
Ivy Olive Nicholson
💍 1918/3243

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

27
20

Taihape
Taihape

3 days
3 days

Residence of brides parents Pepi Street Taihape

2860

Giles Nicholson Father

5 June 1918

Rev Thomas Kinkead Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	5 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Floyd	Ivy Oliver Nicholson
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Floyd	Ivy Olive Nicholson
	💍 1918/3243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of brides parents Pepi Street Taihape
Folio	2860
Consent	Giles Nicholson Father
Date of Certificate	5 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Kinkead Roman Catholic

15 June 1918

William George Hetherington
Mary Stewart

William George Hetherington
Mary Stewart
💍 1918/3244

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman NZ Railways
Domestic duties

42
42

Bennetts Siding Taihape
Bennetts Siding Taihape

2 years
One year

Registrar's Office Taihape

2861

15 June 1918

A C W Murdoch Deputy Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	15 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Hetherington	Mary Stewart
	💍 1918/3244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman NZ Railways	Domestic duties
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Bennetts Siding Taihape	Bennetts Siding Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years	One year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Taihape
Folio	2861
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1918
Officiating Minister	A C W Murdoch Deputy Registrar

17 June 1918

Percy Thurston
Dorothy Wright

Percy Thurston
Dorothy Wright
💍 1918/3245

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine cleaner NZ Railways
Domestic duties

28
22

Taihape
Taihape

Seven years
One year

Residence of Nicholson Pepi Street Taihape

2862

17 June 1918

Rev E J Bergen Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	17 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Thurston	Dorothy Wright
	💍 1918/3245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine cleaner NZ Railways	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	Seven years	One year
Marriage Place	Residence of Nicholson Pepi Street Taihape
Folio	2862
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E J Bergen 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).