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 1401

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 September 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

6 July 1918

Robert Henry Gibson
Ethel Wilkins

Robert Henry Gibson
Ethel Wilkins
💍 1918/4955

bachelor
spinster

Labourer
tailoress

34
23

Taihape
Taihape

28 days
3 days

office of Registrar Taihape

4505

6 July 1918

A. C. W. Murdoch

No	13
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Gibson	Ethel Wilkins
	💍 1918/4955
Condition	bachelor	spinster
Profession	Labourer	tailoress
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	28 days	3 days
Marriage Place	office of Registrar Taihape
Folio	4505
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	A. C. W. Murdoch

6 July 1918

Richard Kite
Anne Eliza Whale

Richard Kite
Annie Eliza Whale
💍 1918/4956

bachelor
divorced

Labourer
domestic duties

40
38

Utiku
Utiku

10 days
6 Months

office of the Registrar at Taihape

4506

6 July 1918

A. C. W. Murdoch

No	14
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Kite	Anne Eliza Whale
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Kite	Annie Eliza Whale
	💍 1918/4956
Condition	bachelor	divorced
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Utiku	Utiku
Length of Residence	10 days	6 Months
Marriage Place	office of the Registrar at Taihape
Folio	4506
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	A. C. W. Murdoch

9 July 1918

Stanley Benion Cooper
Nellie Seatter

Stanley Benion Cooper
Nellie Seatter
💍 1918/4957

bachelor
spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

27
26

Taihape
Taihape

5 years
2 Months

Residence of Rev J Macdonald Taihape

4507

9 July 1918

Rev. J. Macdonald

No	15
Date of Notice	9 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Benion Cooper	Nellie Seatter
	💍 1918/4957
Condition	bachelor	spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	5 years	2 Months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J Macdonald Taihape
Folio	4507
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Macdonald

10 July 1918

William Arthur Cave
Olga Otelia Koberstein

William Arthur Cave
Olga Otelia Koberstein
💍 1918/4958

bachelor
Spinster

Freezing works employee
Domestic duties

24
22

Winiata
Winiata

4 Months
5 years

Residence of Amel Koberstein Winiata

4508

10 July 1918

Rev. E. J. Bergin

No	16
Date of Notice	10 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Cave	Olga Otelia Koberstein
	💍 1918/4958
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Freezing works employee	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Winiata	Winiata
Length of Residence	4 Months	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Amel Koberstein Winiata
Folio	4508
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Bergin

2 August 1918

Edward Thomas McLaughlan
Linda Mary Beattie

Edward Thomas McLaughlan
Linda Mary Beattie
💍 1918/4634

bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
drapers assistant

30
28

Taihape
Paeroa

18 years
2 weeks

Roman Catholic church Paeroa

4130

2 August 1918

A. C. W. Murdoch

No	17
Date of Notice	2 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas McLaughlan	Linda Mary Beattie
	💍 1918/4634
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	drapers assistant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Paeroa
Length of Residence	18 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic church Paeroa
Folio	4130
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1918
Officiating Minister	A. C. W. Murdoch

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).