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 1468

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

7 February 1918

William Parker
Maggie Agnes Ofsoski

William Parker
Maggie Agnes Ofsoski
💍 1918/821

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

19
20

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
5 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

176

William Parker Father. Frances Ofsoski Mother

7 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	86
Date of Notice	7 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Parker	Maggie Agnes Ofsoski
	💍 1918/821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	176
Consent	William Parker Father. Frances Ofsoski Mother
Date of Certificate	7 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

7 February 1918

William Langley Braddock
Dorothy Mafeking Mansell

William Langley Braddock
Dorothy Mafeking Mansill
💍 1918/832

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 Days
6 Day

Registrar's Office Wellington

177

7 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	7 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Langley Braddock	Dorothy Mafeking Mansell
BDM Match (98%)	William Langley Braddock	Dorothy Mafeking Mansill
	💍 1918/832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 Days	6 Day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	177
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

8 February 1918

Matthew George Easton
Isobel Lilian Thompson

Matthew George Eastin
Isobel Lilian Thompson
💍 1918/839

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
29

Wellington
Wellington

2 Days
14 Days

St John's Church Willis St. Wellington

178

8 February 1918

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	88
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew George Easton	Isobel Lilian Thompson
BDM Match (98%)	Matthew George Eastin	Isobel Lilian Thompson
	💍 1918/839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 Days	14 Days
Marriage Place	St John's Church Willis St. Wellington
Folio	178
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

8 February 1918

Percy Gill
Ruby Mabel Hughes

Percy Gill
Ruby Mabel Hughes
💍 1918/840

Bachelor
Divorced 24/11/1917

Accountant

37
30

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
8 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

179

8 February 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	89
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Gill	Ruby Mabel Hughes
	💍 1918/840
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 24/11/1917
Profession	Accountant
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	179
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

8 February 1918

Arthur John Price
Eliza Margaret Jane Duncan Dickie

Arthur John Price
Eliza Margaret Jane Duncan Dickie
💍 1918/841

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
22

Featherston
Petone

2 months
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

180

8 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Price	Eliza Margaret Jane Duncan Dickie
	💍 1918/841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Petone
Length of Residence	2 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	180
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 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).