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 1486

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

176

11 March 1918

Lawrence Arthur Hudson Herrick
Isabella Liddel Glover Denholm Horsbury Hunter

Lawrence Arthur Hudson Herrick
Isabella Liddal Glover Denholm Horsbury Hunter
💍 1918/876

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

29
19

S. S. Itamo
Lyall Bay

5 years
1 year

St James Church Wellington South

263

Margaret Jane Hunter, Mother

11 March 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	176
Date of Notice	11 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Arthur Hudson Herrick	Isabella Liddel Glover Denholm Horsbury Hunter
BDM Match (99%)	Lawrence Arthur Hudson Herrick	Isabella Liddal Glover Denholm Horsbury Hunter
	💍 1918/876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	S. S. Itamo	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St James Church Wellington South
Folio	263
Consent	Margaret Jane Hunter, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

177

11 March 1918

William Henry Edwards
Blanche Eliza Williams

William Henry Edwards
Blanche Eliza Williams
💍 1918/877

William Henry Edwards
Bertha Williams
💍 1918/4217

Widower 23/9/1917
Spinster

Builder

57
37

Wellington
Wellington

50 years
6 years

St Peter's Church Willis St. Wellington

264

11 March 1918

Rev. H. Watson

No	177
Date of Notice	11 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Edwards	Blanche Eliza Williams
	💍 1918/877
BDM Match (77%)	William Henry Edwards	Bertha Williams
	💍 1918/4217
Condition	Widower 23/9/1917	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	57	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	50 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Willis St. Wellington
Folio	264
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

178

11 March 1918

George Smith
Florrie Morgan

George Smith
Flossie Morgan
💍 1918/878

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. Ackroyd 64 Nairn St. Wellington

265

11 March 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	178
Date of Notice	11 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith	Florrie Morgan
BDM Match (93%)	George Smith	Flossie Morgan
	💍 1918/878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Ackroyd 64 Nairn St. Wellington
Folio	265
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

179

12 March 1918

George Albert Koberstein
Minna Marie Frieda Wolfradt

George Albert Koberstein
Minna Marie Frieda Wolfradt
💍 1918/879

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

25
21

Featherston
Belmont

1 month
4 years

Residence of Rev. H. H. Te Punga White's Line Lower Hutt

266

12 March 1918

Rev. H. H. Te Punga

No	179
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Koberstein	Minna Marie Frieda Wolfradt
	💍 1918/879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Belmont
Length of Residence	1 month	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. H. Te Punga White's Line Lower Hutt
Folio	266
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Te Punga

180

12 March 1918

John George Beattie
Jane Davidson Sargent

John George Beattie
Irene Davidson Sargent
💍 1918/880

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 26/2/1918

Merchant

32
28

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
18 years

St John's Church Willis St. Wellington

267

12 March 1918

Rev. J. Gibb

No	180
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Beattie	Jane Davidson Sargent
BDM Match (93%)	John George Beattie	Irene Davidson Sargent
	💍 1918/880
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 26/2/1918
Profession	Merchant
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Willis St. Wellington
Folio	267
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

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).