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 1556

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

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

523

4 July 1918

William Tonge
Doris Edna Nation

William Tonge
Doris Edna Nation
💍 1918/4144

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouse Assistant

23
20

Wellington
Ngaio

4 yrs
10 yrs

House of E. J. Nation, 4 Main Road, Ngaio

3552

Edward James Nation, father, Ngaio

4 July 1918

Revd W. Rowe

No	523
Date of Notice	4 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tonge	Doris Edna Nation
	💍 1918/4144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouse Assistant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ngaio
Length of Residence	4 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	House of E. J. Nation, 4 Main Road, Ngaio
Folio	3552
Consent	Edward James Nation, father, Ngaio
Date of Certificate	4 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Revd W. Rowe

524

4 July 1918

James William McGill
Ellen Lillian Boynton

James William McGill
Ellen Lillian Bryenton
💍 1918/4155

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
3 days

St Joseph's Church, Wellington

3553

4 July 1918

Revd D. H. Hurley

No	524
Date of Notice	4 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William McGill	Ellen Lillian Boynton
BDM Match (95%)	James William McGill	Ellen Lillian Bryenton
	💍 1918/4155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	3553
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Revd D. H. Hurley

525

5 July 1918

John Black
Maria Ethel Perry

John Black
Maria Ethel Perry
💍 1918/4162

Divorced (Decree absolute 26 July 1917)
Widow (9. 3. 1918)

Sheep Farmer

53
35

Wellington
Wellington

12 days
12 days

St Johns Manse, Wellington

3554

5 July 1918

Rev J Gibb

No	525
Date of Notice	5 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Black	Maria Ethel Perry
	💍 1918/4162
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 26 July 1917)	Widow (9. 3. 1918)
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	53	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 days	12 days
Marriage Place	St Johns Manse, Wellington
Folio	3554
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Gibb

526

6 July 1918

Michael John Joseph Roche
Mabel Kerr

Michael John Joseph Roche
Mabel Kerr
💍 1918/4163

Bachelor
Spinster

Mounted Police Constable

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
3 years

St Josephs Church, Buckle St, Wellington

3555

6 July 1918

Rev J. O'Connor

No	526
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael John Joseph Roche	Mabel Kerr
	💍 1918/4163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mounted Police Constable
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church, Buckle St, Wellington
Folio	3555
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. O'Connor

527

6 July 1918

Trevor Noel Holmden
Janet Dela Stout

Trevor Noel Holmdew
Janet Osla Stout
💍 1918/4164

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
2 month

St Peters Church, Wellington

3556

6 July 1918

Rev T H Kempthorne, Rev W Sprott

No	527
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Noel Holmden	Janet Dela Stout
BDM Match (91%)	Trevor Noel Holmdew	Janet Osla Stout
	💍 1918/4164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 month
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	3556
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev T H Kempthorne, Rev W Sprott

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).