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 1591

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

698

20 September 1918

George Donaldson
Constance Beatrice Rayner

George Donaldson
Constance Beatrice Rayner
💍 1918/5237

Bachelor
Spinster

Cable Operator

27
26

Wellington
Nelson

1 year
23 years

The Residence of Mr. W. Rayner, Cable Bay, Nelson

4872

20 September 1918

Rev. G. H. Gibb

No	698
Date of Notice	20 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Donaldson	Constance Beatrice Rayner
	💍 1918/5237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cable Operator
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	23 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. W. Rayner, Cable Bay, Nelson
Folio	4872
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb

699

20 September 1918

William Leslie Hooson
Florence Augusta van Borssum

William Leslie Hooson
Florence Augusta Van Borsman
💍 1918/4185

Bachelor
Spinster

Indent Agent

31
19

Northland Wellington
Wellington

9 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Evans Bay

3724

Henry Robert van Borssum, Father

20 September 1918

Rev. H. Beggs

No	699
Date of Notice	20 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Hooson	Florence Augusta van Borssum
BDM Match (93%)	William Leslie Hooson	Florence Augusta Van Borsman
	💍 1918/4185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indent Agent
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Northland Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Evans Bay
Folio	3724
Consent	Henry Robert van Borssum, Father
Date of Certificate	20 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

700

20 September 1918

James Caradus
Ida Verne Dement

James Caradus
Ida Verne Dement
💍 1918/5478

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer

30
26

Wellington
Nelson

7 months
4 years

All Saints Church, Nelson

4621

20 September 1918

Rev. W. Wollstein

No	700
Date of Notice	20 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Caradus	Ida Verne Dement
	💍 1918/5478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 months	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Nelson
Folio	4621
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein

701

20 September 1918

Robert Alan Richards
Mary Emily Atkin

Robert Alan Richards
Mary Emily Atkin
💍 1918/4417

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter & Paperhanger

21
20

Karori
Karori

8 years
Life

St Mary's Church, Karori

3725

Robert Atkin, Father

20 September 1918

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	701
Date of Notice	20 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alan Richards	Mary Emily Atkin
	💍 1918/4417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter & Paperhanger
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	3725
Consent	Robert Atkin, Father
Date of Certificate	20 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

702

21 September 1918

Joseph Pearson
Molly Gowdie

Joseph Pearson
Molly Gourdie
💍 1918/4428

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

50
30

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 years

The Parsonage, 21 Hankey St., Wellington

3726

21 September 1918

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	702
Date of Notice	21 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Pearson	Molly Gowdie
BDM Match (92%)	Joseph Pearson	Molly Gourdie
	💍 1918/4428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	The Parsonage, 21 Hankey St., Wellington
Folio	3726
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

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).