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 1603

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar R. G. Donkin

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

750

8 October 1918

Robert John Adams Watson
Hazel Annie McNicol

Robert John Adams Watson
Hazel Annie McNicol
💍 1918/5568

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
5 years

St Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington

5151

8 October 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	750
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Adams Watson	Hazel Annie McNicol
	💍 1918/5568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	5151
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

751

8 October 1918

William John Youngson
Catherine Alice McNabb

William John Youngson
Catherine Alice McNabb
💍 1918/5579

Bachelor
Spinster

Student

26
28

Auckland
Wellington

3 days
4 weeks

Residence of Mr McNabb 66 Coromandel Street Wellington

5152

8 October 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	751
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Youngson	Catherine Alice McNabb
	💍 1918/5579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr McNabb 66 Coromandel Street Wellington
Folio	5152
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

752

8 October 1918

Charles Hamilton Knowles
Elizabeth Burt Corbett

Charles Hamilton Knowles
Elizabeth Burt Corbett
💍 1918/5586

Widower 11/12/1907
Spinster

Clerk

56
47

Wellington
Wellington

11 months
2 1/2 years

The Residence of Robt Johnson 3 Shannon Street Wellington

5153

8 October 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	752
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hamilton Knowles	Elizabeth Burt Corbett
	💍 1918/5586
Condition	Widower 11/12/1907	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	56	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 months	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Robt Johnson 3 Shannon Street Wellington
Folio	5153
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

753

8 October 1918

Frank Lewis Rees
Adeline Joyce Edna Bottrell

Frank Lewis Rees
Adeline Joyce Edna Battrell
💍 1918/5587

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

26
24

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

3 days
8 days

Church of England Brooklyn

5154

8 October 1918

Rev. G. W. Dent

No	753
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Lewis Rees	Adeline Joyce Edna Bottrell
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Lewis Rees	Adeline Joyce Edna Battrell
	💍 1918/5587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Brooklyn
Folio	5154
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent

754

9 October 1918

Joseph Bootten
Ellen Montgomery

Joseph Bootten
Ellen Montgomery
💍 1918/5588

Widower 15/7/1915
Widow 17/9/1916

Farmer

56
47

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
4 days

Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace Wellington

5155

9 October 1918

Rev. A. E. Hunt

No	754
Date of Notice	9 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bootten	Ellen Montgomery
	💍 1918/5588
Condition	Widower 15/7/1915	Widow 17/9/1916
Profession	Farmer
Age	56	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace Wellington
Folio	5155
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt

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).