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 1411

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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 March 1918

James Anderson
Mary Ellen Hastedt

James Anderson
Mary Ellen Hastedt
💍 1918/718

Bachelor
Divorced

Baker
Domestic duties

33
49

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

1256

9 March 1918

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	9 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Anderson	Mary Ellen Hastedt
	💍 1918/718
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	33	49
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	1256
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

13 March 1918

John Martron
Cecilia Agnes Campbell

John Martron
Cecilia Agnes Campbell
💍 1918/719

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic duties

28
33

Wanganui
Wanganui

1 year
33 years

Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui

1257

13 March 1918

J. A. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	13 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Martron	Cecilia Agnes Campbell
	💍 1918/719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic duties
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	1 year	33 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui
Folio	1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1918
Officiating Minister	J. A. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

14 March 1918

Edward Thomas Driscoll
Daisy May McDonald

Edward Thomas Driscoll
Daisy May McDonald
💍 1918/720

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman's Assistant
Domestic duties

27
27

Castlecliff
Castlecliff

2 months
1 month

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

1258

14 March 1918

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	14 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Driscoll	Daisy May McDonald
	💍 1918/720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman's Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Castlecliff	Castlecliff
Length of Residence	2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

16 March 1918

Norman George Thomas Smith
Olive Ellen Carpenter

Norman George Thomas Smith
Olive Ellen Carpenter
💍 1918/721

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Help

22
19

Wanganui
Wanganui

22 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

1259

Thomas Henry Carpenter, Father

16 March 1918

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	16 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman George Thomas Smith	Olive Ellen Carpenter
	💍 1918/721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Help
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	1259
Consent	Thomas Henry Carpenter, Father
Date of Certificate	16 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

16 March 1918

Albert Isaac William Fretwell
Ivy Doris McElwain

Albert Isaac William Fretwell
Ivy Doris McElwain
💍 1918/698

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Lady-help

27
17

Wanganui
Wanganui East

3 days
7 years

Church of England, Wanganui East

1260

Louisa Emmilyn McElwain, Mother

16 March 1918

H. W. Thomson, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	16 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Isaac William Fretwell	Ivy Doris McElwain
	💍 1918/698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Lady-help
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui East
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wanganui East
Folio	1260
Consent	Louisa Emmilyn McElwain, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 March 1918
Officiating Minister	H. W. Thomson, Church of England

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).