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 1606

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

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

765

12 October 1918

Roland Arthur Hastings
Evelyn Rose Coleman

Roland Arthur Hastings
Rose Evelyn Coleman
💍 1918/5575

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

29
28

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
28 years

St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

5166

12 October 1918

Rev. A. J. Cullen

No	765
Date of Notice	12 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Arthur Hastings	Evelyn Rose Coleman
BDM Match (74%)	Roland Arthur Hastings	Rose Evelyn Coleman
	💍 1918/5575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	5166
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Cullen

766

12 October 1918

Fredrich George Sanders
Mary Jordan

Fredrich George Sanders
Mary Jordan
💍 1918/5576

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
40

Wellington
Porirua

9 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church (St Mary's Schoolroom) Boulcott St, Wellington

5167

12 October 1918

Rev. R. Hoare

No	766
Date of Notice	12 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrich George Sanders	Mary Jordan
	💍 1918/5576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Porirua
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church (St Mary's Schoolroom) Boulcott St, Wellington
Folio	5167
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hoare

767

14 October 1918

Joseph William Barnard
Oona May Ferguson

Joseph William Barnard
Dona May Ferguson
💍 1918/5577

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
1 month

Methodist Church Taranaki St. Wellington

5168

14 October 1918

Rev. H. A. Sharp

No	767
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Barnard	Oona May Ferguson
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph William Barnard	Dona May Ferguson
	💍 1918/5577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Taranaki St. Wellington
Folio	5168
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Sharp

768

14 October 1918

Reginald George Gilbertson Walsh
Corrie Heather Grant

Reginald George Gilbertson Walsh
Corrie Heather Grant
💍 1918/5578

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
3 days

St Peter's Church Wellington

5169

14 October 1918

Rev. J. M. Kempthorne

No	768
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald George Gilbertson Walsh	Corrie Heather Grant
	💍 1918/5578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	5169
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Kempthorne

769

14 October 1918

William Henry Bates
Margaret Isabella Weir

William Henry Bates
Margaret Isabella Weir
💍 1918/5580

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Fruiterer

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

5170

14 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	769
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Bates	Margaret Isabella Weir
	💍 1918/5580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Fruiterer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5170
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).