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 1476

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. S. 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

126

22 February 1918

David Harkness
Emma Olive Alexandria Herdman

David Harkness
Emma Olive Alexandria Herdman
💍 1918/851

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

38
36

H. M. N. Z. T. Tofua
Wellington

15 months
5 months

The Manse 100 Upland Road Kelburn Wellington

214

22 February 1918

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	126
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Harkness	Emma Olive Alexandria Herdman
	💍 1918/851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	H. M. N. Z. T. Tofua	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	5 months
Marriage Place	The Manse 100 Upland Road Kelburn Wellington
Folio	214
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

127

22 February 1918

Ernest Grenville Edwards
Annie Henderson Rea Kirker

Ernest Grenville Edwards
Annie Henderson Rea Kirker
💍 1918/852

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church Kelburn Wellington

215

22 February 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	127
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Grenville Edwards	Annie Henderson Rea Kirker
	💍 1918/852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kelburn Wellington
Folio	215
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

128

22 February 1918

Robert George Forbes
Annie Berrill

Robert George Forbes
Annie Berrill
💍 1918/853

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
22

Featherston
Wellington

2 months
9 years

Residence of Mr. Berrill 18 Penwyn Terrace Wellington

216

22 February 1918

Rev. W. Shirer

No	128
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Forbes	Annie Berrill
	💍 1918/853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Berrill 18 Penwyn Terrace Wellington
Folio	216
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

129

23 February 1918

Alexander Harley Cooke
Dorothy Barnett

Alexander Harley Cooke
Dorothy Barnett
💍 1918/854

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
31

Featherston
Wellington

7 months
12 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

217

23 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	129
Date of Notice	23 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Harley Cooke	Dorothy Barnett
	💍 1918/854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	217
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

130

23 February 1918

Abraham Wakem
Mabel Shaib

Abraham Wakem
Mabel Shaib
💍 1918/855

Bachelor
Spinster

Soft Goods manufacturer

34
18

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
11 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

218

Annisie Shaib Mother

23 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	130
Date of Notice	23 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Wakem	Mabel Shaib
	💍 1918/855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soft Goods manufacturer
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	218
Consent	Annisie Shaib Mother
Date of Certificate	23 February 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).