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 1581

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar W. W. Samson

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

648

31 August 1918

Ludwig August Bernhard Walen
Lily May Brown

Ludwig Bernhard Walen
Lily May Brown
💍 1918/4119

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

3676

31 August 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	648
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ludwig August Bernhard Walen	Lily May Brown
BDM Match (88%)	Ludwig Bernhard Walen	Lily May Brown
	💍 1918/4119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	3676
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

649

2 September 1918

James Guy Aitken Thomson
Margaret Rita Shore

James Guy Aitken Thomson
Margaret Rita Shore
💍 1918/4130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
Life

St Andrews Church Wellington

3677

2 September 1918

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	649
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Guy Aitken Thomson	Margaret Rita Shore
	💍 1918/4130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	Life
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Wellington
Folio	3677
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

650

2 September 1918

John Thompson
Ida Pichoir de Launay

John Thompson
Ida Pichoir de Laurnay
💍 1918/4137

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

36
30

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
3 days

St Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington

3678

2 September 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	650
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson	Ida Pichoir de Launay
BDM Match (98%)	John Thompson	Ida Pichoir de Laurnay
	💍 1918/4137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	3678
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

651

2 September 1918

Andrew Christensen
Minnie Anna Williams

Andrew Christensen
Minnie Anna Williams
💍 1918/4138

Bachelor
Widow (3/4/1915)

Soldier

35
42

Featherston
Wellington

4 months
10 years

Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

3679

2 September 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	651
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Christensen	Minnie Anna Williams
	💍 1918/4138
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (3/4/1915)
Profession	Soldier
Age	35	42
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	3679
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

652

3 September 1918

Frederick James Mitton
Annie Duggan

Frederick James Witton
Annie Duggan
💍 1918/4139

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typiste

36
27

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
27 years

Basilica Hill Street Wellington

3680

3 September 1918

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	652
Date of Notice	3 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Mitton	Annie Duggan
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick James Witton	Annie Duggan
	💍 1918/4139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typiste
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	27 years
Marriage Place	Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	3680
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

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).