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 1452

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

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

4 January 1918

Walter Moss
Maude Alice Kay

Walter Moss
Maude Alice Kay
💍 1918/785

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

St. Thomas's Church, Newtown, Wellington South

Sarah Moffat formerly Kay.

4 January 1918

Rev. J. G. Castle

No	6
Date of Notice	4 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Moss	Maude Alice Kay
	💍 1918/785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Thomas's Church, Newtown, Wellington South
Folio	97
Consent	Sarah Moffat formerly Kay.
Date of Certificate	4 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Castle

7 January 1918

Robert Cotton Paterson
Jessica Alice Utley

Robert Cotton Paterson
Jessica Alice Utley
💍 1918/786

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

38
32

Wellington
Wellington

12 days
12 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7 January 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cotton Paterson	Jessica Alice Utley
	💍 1918/786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 days	12 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	98
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

7 January 1918

James William McAllister
Eileen Ida Evelyn de Berri Maroni

James William McAllister
Eileen Ida Evelyn de Berrie Maroni
💍 1918/787

Bachelor
Spinster

Canvasser

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
10 months

St. Mary's Church, Karori

7 January 1918

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	8
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William McAllister	Eileen Ida Evelyn de Berri Maroni
BDM Match (99%)	James William McAllister	Eileen Ida Evelyn de Berrie Maroni
	💍 1918/787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canvasser
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	99
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

7 January 1918

Gilbert Alexander Lawrence
Lilian Ivy Kirby

Gilbert Alexander Lawrence
Lilian Ivy Kirby
💍 1918/788

Bachelor
Spinster

Analytical Chemist

25
26

Johnsonville
Wellington

14 years
9 years

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

100

7 January 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnston

No	9
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Alexander Lawrence	Lilian Ivy Kirby
	💍 1918/788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Analytical Chemist
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	100
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnston

7 January 1918

Alfred Charles Cole
Thomasina Eadie Cousins

Alfred Charles Cole
Thomasina Eadie Cousins
💍 1918/52

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

31
20

Porirua
Porirua

24 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Johnsonville

101

Under Section 27 Consent.

21 January 1918

Rev. W. Rowe

No	10
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Charles Cole	Thomasina Eadie Cousins
	💍 1918/52
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Johnsonville
Folio	101
Consent	Under Section 27 Consent.
Date of Certificate	21 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Rowe

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).