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 1420

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

29 May 1918

James Alexander Humphrey
Christina McFadzen

James Alexander Humphrey
Christina McFadzen
💍 1918/3504

Widower 11/8/13
Spinster

Accountant
Home duties

30
25

Wanganui

15 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church Wanganui

2889

29 May 1918

J. A. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	65
Date of Notice	29 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Humphrey	Christina McFadzen
	💍 1918/3504
Condition	Widower 11/8/13	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Home duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place		Wanganui
Length of Residence	15 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Wanganui
Folio	2889
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1918
Officiating Minister	J. A. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

29 May 1918

Archibald James Gracie
Ethel May Hodson

Archibald James Gracie
Ethel May Hodson
💍 1918/3505

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

5 months
23 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Wanganui

2890

29 May 1918

D. Campbell, Presbyterian

No	66
Date of Notice	29 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald James Gracie	Ethel May Hodson
	💍 1918/3505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	5 months	23 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Wanganui
Folio	2890
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1918
Officiating Minister	D. Campbell, Presbyterian

31 May 1918

Lawrence Albert Trussell
Hilda Mary Whetton

Laurence Albert Trussell
Hilda Mary Whetton
💍 1918/5254

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

23
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

23 years
11 years

Church of England Aramoho

4891

31 May 1918

S. Ogden, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	31 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Albert Trussell	Hilda Mary Whetton
BDM Match (98%)	Laurence Albert Trussell	Hilda Mary Whetton
	💍 1918/5254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	23 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Aramoho
Folio	4891
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1918
Officiating Minister	S. Ogden, Church of England

04 June 1918

Alfred Francis Ashbolt
Florence Elizabeth Pilcher

Alfred Francis Ashbolt
Florence Elizabeth Pilcher
💍 1918/3506

Widower 11/6/04
Widow 4/3/11

Storeman's Assistant
Household duties

40
40

Gonville
Wanganui

8 days
2 years

Residence of Mr Neville 7 Dustin St Gonville

2891

04 June 1918

J. Reid, Methodist

No	68
Date of Notice	04 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Francis Ashbolt	Florence Elizabeth Pilcher
	💍 1918/3506
Condition	Widower 11/6/04	Widow 4/3/11
Profession	Storeman's Assistant	Household duties
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Gonville	Wanganui
Length of Residence	8 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Neville 7 Dustin St Gonville
Folio	2891
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 June 1918
Officiating Minister	J. Reid, Methodist

04 June 1918

William Edward Hird
Mary Walsh

William Edward Hird
Mary Walsh
💍 1918/3507

William Leonard Howard
Mary Helen Walsh
💍 1919/471

Widower 4/8/17
Spinster

School teacher
Home duties

40
30

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Wanganui

2892

04 June 1918

J. A. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	69
Date of Notice	04 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Hird	Mary Walsh
	💍 1918/3507
BDM Match (65%)	William Leonard Howard	Mary Helen Walsh
	💍 1919/471
Condition	Widower 4/8/17	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Home duties
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Wanganui
Folio	2892
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 June 1918
Officiating Minister	J. A. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

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).