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 1522

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar W. G. Wood

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

357

9 May 1918

John Menzies Kennedy
Helen Violet Robb

John Menzies Kennedy
Helen Violet Robb
💍 1918/3827

Divorced Decree absolute March 1911
Widow 22/2/1916

Manager

48
35

Rona Bay
Rona Bay

5 yrs
12 yrs.

The Residence of Mrs Edwards, Rona Bay, Wellington

3241

9 May 1918

Rev G. K. Smith

No	357
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Menzies Kennedy	Helen Violet Robb
	💍 1918/3827
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute March 1911	Widow 22/2/1916
Profession	Manager
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Rona Bay	Rona Bay
Length of Residence	5 yrs	12 yrs.
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mrs Edwards, Rona Bay, Wellington
Folio	3241
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev G. K. Smith

358

9 May 1918

William Whitehead
Violet Ann Rutherford

William Whitehead
Violet Ann Rutherford
💍 1918/1348

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

39
33

Trentham
Upper Hutt

1 week
1 week

Presbyterian Church, Upper Hutt

1910

9 May 1918

Rev. D. D. Scott.

No	358
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Whitehead	Violet Ann Rutherford
	💍 1918/1348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Upper Hutt
Folio	1910
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Scott.

359

9 May 1918

Herbert Brand Johnson
Violet Amelia Spearman

Herbert Brand Johnson
Violet Amelia Spearman
💍 1918/1349

Bachelor
Spinster

Biograph Operator

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
16 years

Residence of Rev. E. Drake, 89 Daniel Street, Wellington

1911

9 May 1918

Rev. E. Drake.

No	359
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Brand Johnson	Violet Amelia Spearman
	💍 1918/1349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Biograph Operator
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. E. Drake, 89 Daniel Street, Wellington
Folio	1911
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake.

360

9 May 1918

John Bird
Bertha Ellen Hentskie

John Bird
Bertha Ellen Hentskie
💍 1918/1350

Widower 16/3/1917
Spinster

Waterside worker

38
30

Wellington
Wellington

20 Years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1912

9 May 1918

Registrar

No	360
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bird	Bertha Ellen Hentskie
	💍 1918/1350
Condition	Widower 16/3/1917	Spinster
Profession	Waterside worker
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 Years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1912
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

361

10 May 1918

Archibald Thomas Gardiner
Mary Jane Sanders

Archibald Thomas Gardiner
Mary Jane Sanders
💍 1918/1351

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

20
19

Petone
Lower Hutt.

Life
2 Years

St Augustine's Church, Petone

1913

James Gardiner, Father; Thomas Sanders, Father

10 May 1918

Rev. H. T. Stealey

No	361
Date of Notice	10 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Thomas Gardiner	Mary Jane Sanders
	💍 1918/1351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Lower Hutt.
Length of Residence	Life	2 Years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	1913
Consent	James Gardiner, Father; Thomas Sanders, Father
Date of Certificate	10 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Stealey

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).