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 1498

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. H. Ponlon

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

236

28 March 1918

Edwin Robert Newman
Winifred Lilian Mason

Edwin Robert Newman
Winifred Lilian Mason
💍 1918/238

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

20
20

Featherston
Wellington

4 months
13 months

St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

321

Arthur William Newman Father, Henrietta Winifred Mason Mother (Lawfully appt Guardian)

28 March 1918

Rev. H. Watson

No	236
Date of Notice	28 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Robert Newman	Winifred Lilian Mason
	💍 1918/238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	13 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	321
Consent	Arthur William Newman Father, Henrietta Winifred Mason Mother (Lawfully appt Guardian)
Date of Certificate	28 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

237

28 March 1918

Samuel Arthur Clarence Warby
Ethel May Spriggins

Samuel Arthur Clarence Darby
Ethel May Spriggins
💍 1918/239

Widower 15/7/1915
Spinster

Soldier

28
21

Trentham
Wellington

6 months
4 months

St. John's Church Willis Street Wellington

322

28 March 1918

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	237
Date of Notice	28 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Arthur Clarence Warby	Ethel May Spriggins
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Arthur Clarence Darby	Ethel May Spriggins
	💍 1918/239
Condition	Widower 15/7/1915	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	322
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

238

30 March 1918

Arthur Ahlers
Ada Muriel Church

Arthur Ahlers
Ada Muriel Church
💍 1918/240

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 days

St. James Manse Wellington South

323

30 March 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	238
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ahlers	Ada Muriel Church
	💍 1918/240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. James Manse Wellington South
Folio	323
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

239

30 March 1918

John Henry Astwood
Sarah Georgina Teehan

John Henry Astwood
Sarah Georgina Teehan
💍 1918/241

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

20
20

Petone
Petone

3 years
4 years

Methodist Church Petone

324

James Astwood Father, Richard Teehan Father

30 March 1918

Rev. Angus McBean

No	239
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Astwood	Sarah Georgina Teehan
	💍 1918/241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Petone
Folio	324
Consent	James Astwood Father, Richard Teehan Father
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Angus McBean

240

30 March 1918

David Hamilton McElwee
Eliza Beedie

David Hamilton McElwee
Eliza Beedie
💍 1918/242

Bachelor
Widow 20/11/1915

Engine Driver

31
37

Wellington
Wellington South

4 days
2 weeks

St. James Manse Wellington South

325

30 March 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	240
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hamilton McElwee	Eliza Beedie
	💍 1918/242
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20/11/1915
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	31	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. James Manse Wellington South
Folio	325
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).