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 1346

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

119

6 December 1918

William Wright
Helen Letitia Carter

William Wright
Helen Letitia Carter
💍 1918/6220

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

26
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

5896

6 December 1918

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	6 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wright	Helen Letitia Carter
	💍 1918/6220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	5896
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

120

9 December 1918

Sydney Arthur Harvey
Anne Ellen Prentice

Sydney Arthur Harvey
Anne Ellen Prentice
💍 1918/6221

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier, Steel Moulder
Domestic

30
25

Awapuni
Palmerston North

8 weeks
17 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5897

9 December 1918

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	120
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Arthur Harvey	Anne Ellen Prentice
	💍 1918/6221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier, Steel Moulder	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Awapuni	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 weeks	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5897
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

121

12 December 1918

Walter Schofield
Lena Catherwood Bird

Walter Schofield
Lena Catherwood Bird
💍 1918/6222

Bachelor
Divorced

Telegraph Linesman
Waitress

28
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 week

Registrars Office Palmerston North

5898

12 December 1918

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	121
Date of Notice	12 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Schofield	Lena Catherwood Bird
	💍 1918/6222
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Waitress
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	5898
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

122

14 December 1918

Richard John Jackson
Annie Frances Amoore

Richard John Jackson
Annie Frances Amoore
💍 1918/6223

Bachelor
Spinster

Flaxmill Hand
Domestic

24
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 months

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5899

Alfred Frank Elliott Amoore, Father

14 December 1918

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	122
Date of Notice	14 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Jackson	Annie Frances Amoore
	💍 1918/6223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flaxmill Hand	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5899
Consent	Alfred Frank Elliott Amoore, Father
Date of Certificate	14 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

123

14 December 1918

George Snadden
Ethel Adella Malcolm

George Snadden
Ethel Adella Malcolm
💍 1918/6231

Widower
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

37
25

Richmond, Nelson
Palmerston North

4 years
1 year

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

5900

14 December 1918

Rev F. W. Boys, Methodist

No	123
Date of Notice	14 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Snadden	Ethel Adella Malcolm
	💍 1918/6231
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Richmond, Nelson	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	5900
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Boys, Methodist

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).