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 1453

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

8 January 1918

Gardner Menelaus
Edith Long

Gardner Menelaus
Edith Long
💍 1918/63

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
15 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

102

8 January 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	8 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gardner Menelaus	Edith Long
	💍 1918/63
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	102
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

8 January 1918

Stanley George Wilson
Annie Elizabeth Franklin

Stanely George Wilson
Annie Elizabeth Franklin
💍 1918/70

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

19
17

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

10 years
5 years

The Residence of Mr H. E. Franklin, Knights Rd, Lower Hutt

103

William Wilson Father, Henry Edward Franklin Father

8 January 1918

Rev. J. R. Copp

No	12
Date of Notice	8 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley George Wilson	Annie Elizabeth Franklin
BDM Match (95%)	Stanely George Wilson	Annie Elizabeth Franklin
	💍 1918/70
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr H. E. Franklin, Knights Rd, Lower Hutt
Folio	103
Consent	William Wilson Father, Henry Edward Franklin Father
Date of Certificate	8 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Copp

8 January 1918

Robert Donald Boyle
Edith Margaret Spicer

Robert Donald Boyle
Edith Margaret Spicer
💍 1918/71

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
8 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

104

8 January 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott D.D.

No	13
Date of Notice	8 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Donald Boyle	Edith Margaret Spicer
	💍 1918/71
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	104
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott D.D.

9 January 1918

Arthur Francis Murray
Jessie Beatrice Druce

Arthur Francis Murray
Jessie Beatrice Druce
💍 1918/72

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand

44
24

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
7 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

105

9 January 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	9 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Francis Murray	Jessie Beatrice Druce
	💍 1918/72
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand
Age	44	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	105
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

9 January 1918

Alfred Edward Wood
Emily Rosa Jones

Alfred Edward Wood
Emily Rosa Jones
💍 1918/73

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

30
30

Wellington
Wellington

8 days
2 years

Sacred Heart Basilica Wellington

106

9 January 1918

Rev. F. L. Dignan

No	15
Date of Notice	9 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Wood	Emily Rosa Jones
	💍 1918/73
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica Wellington
Folio	106
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. L. Dignan

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).