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 1611

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

790

24 October 1918

Edward Martin
Ruth Harriet Maude Ashby

Edward Martin
Ruth Harriett Maude Ashby
💍 1918/5599

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

33
21

Petone
Petone

3 days
6 years

Church of Christ, Sydney Street, Petone

5190

24 October 1918

Rev. F. J. Marshall

No	790
Date of Notice	24 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Martin	Ruth Harriet Maude Ashby
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Martin	Ruth Harriett Maude Ashby
	💍 1918/5599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Sydney Street, Petone
Folio	5190
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Marshall

791

25 October 1918

John Joseph Timmins
Mary Catherine McMahon

John Joseph Timmins
Mary Catherine McMahon
💍 1918/5600

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Manager

31
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

5191

25 October 1918

Rev. M. Devoy

No	791
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Timmins	Mary Catherine McMahon
	💍 1918/5600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Manager
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	5191
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy

792

25 October 1918

Robert Joseph Welch
Susan Gordon

Robert Joseph Welch
Susan Gordon
💍 1918/5601

Bachelor
Spinster

Postman

33
30

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5192

25 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	792
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Joseph Welch	Susan Gordon
	💍 1918/5601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postman
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5192
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

793

25 October 1918

Henry William Bohm
Mary Elizabeth Benton

Henry William Bobin
Mary Elizabeth Benton
💍 1918/5602

Widower
Spinster

Engineer

53
39

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
12 months

St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

5193

25 October 1918

Rev. J. M. Kempthorne

No	793
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Bohm	Mary Elizabeth Benton
BDM Match (92%)	Henry William Bobin	Mary Elizabeth Benton
	💍 1918/5602
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	53	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	5193
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Kempthorne

794

25 October 1918

Rewi Radcliffe Taylor
Mary Elizabeth Tonner

Rewi Radcliffe Taylor
Mary Elizabeth Tonner
💍 1918/5603

Bachelor
Spinster

Attendant

22
23

Porirua
Porirua

1 year
2 years

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

5194

25 October 1918

Rev. F. L. Dignan

No	794
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rewi Radcliffe Taylor	Mary Elizabeth Tonner
	💍 1918/5603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Attendant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	5194
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 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).