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 1469

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 February 1918

Eric Michael Harris Joseph Lynch
Eva Elsa Abbott

Eric Michael Harris Joseph Lynch
Iva Elsia Abbott
💍 1918/842

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Pahautanui
Pahautanui

Life
Life

St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington

181

8 February 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	91
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Michael Harris Joseph Lynch	Eva Elsa Abbott
BDM Match (94%)	Eric Michael Harris Joseph Lynch	Iva Elsia Abbott
	💍 1918/842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	181
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

8 February 1918

Andrew Mackenzie
Ruby Olga Denton

Andrew MacKenzie
Ruby Olga Denton
💍 1918/843

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant Manager

38
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie

182

8 February 1918

Rev. H. Begg

No	92
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Mackenzie	Ruby Olga Denton
BDM Match (97%)	Andrew MacKenzie	Ruby Olga Denton
	💍 1918/843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant Manager
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie
Folio	182
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Begg

8 February 1918

Mark Benjamin
Leah Helper

Mark Benjamin
Leah Helper
💍 1918/844

Widower
Widow

Tailor

50
43

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
8 years

The Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington

183

8 February 1918

Rev. H. Van Staveren

No	93
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Benjamin	Leah Helper
	💍 1918/844
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Tailor
Age	50	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	8 years
Marriage Place	The Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	183
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Van Staveren

9 February 1918

Arthur Bardell
Sarah Margaret Mulligan

Arthur Bardell
Sarah Margaret Mulligan
💍 1918/845

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
36

Trentham
Wellington

3 months
36 years

St-Augustines Church Petone

184

9 February 1918

Rev. H. T. Stealey

No	94
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bardell	Sarah Margaret Mulligan
	💍 1918/845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	36 years
Marriage Place	St-Augustines Church Petone
Folio	184
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Stealey

9 February 1918

Walter William Andrews
Olive Smith

Walter William Andrews
Olive Smith
💍 1918/822

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

27
20

Kilbirnie
Wellington

27 years
20 years

The Residence of Mr. C. H. Smith, 196 Hanson St. Wellington

185

Charles Henry Smith father

9 February 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	95
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Andrews	Olive Smith
	💍 1918/822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. C. H. Smith, 196 Hanson St. Wellington
Folio	185
Consent	Charles Henry Smith father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).