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 1330

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar A. North

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

14 June 1918

Martin Sydney Stanley Smith
Lily Staton

Martin Sydney Stanley Smith
Lily Staton
💍 1918/3221

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Motor & Electrical Engineer
Clerk

25
28

Trentham
Palmerston North

11 months
4 years

St Davids Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

2838

14 June 1918

Rev Alex Doull Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	14 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Sydney Stanley Smith	Lily Staton
	💍 1918/3221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Motor & Electrical Engineer	Clerk
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	11 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St Davids Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	2838
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Alex Doull Presbyterian

15 June 1918

Frederick David Howard
Olive Lillian Hodson

Frederick David Howard
Olive Lillian Hodson
💍 1918/3222

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Milliner

25
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
12 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

2839

15 June 1918

Rev H.G. Blackburne Anglican

No	53
Date of Notice	15 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick David Howard	Olive Lillian Hodson
	💍 1918/3222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Milliner
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	2839
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne Anglican

17 June 1918

Peter Couper
Olive Catherine Spencer

Peter Couper
Olive Catherine Spencer
💍 1918/3223

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Butcher
Domestic

31
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

2840

17 June 1918

C.E. Shortt Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	17 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Couper	Olive Catherine Spencer
	💍 1918/3223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Butcher	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	2840
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1918
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt Registrar

17 June 1918

Duncan Shaw Young
Evelyn Annie Osborne

Duncan Shaw Young
Evelyn Annie Osborne
💍 1918/3224

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse Church Street Palmerston North

2841

17 June 1918

Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	17 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Shaw Young	Evelyn Annie Osborne
	💍 1918/3224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Church Street Palmerston North
Folio	2841
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

17 June 1918

William Francis Bowman
Alice May Philp

William Francis Bowman
Alice May Philp
💍 1918/3225

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Fireman
Domestic

20
17

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs Delahunty 17 Joseph Street Palmerston North

2842

Annie Florence Julia Voyce, Mother; Ruth Bowman, Mother.

17 June 1918

Mr H. Grinstead Church of Christ

No	56
Date of Notice	17 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Bowman	Alice May Philp
	💍 1918/3225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Fireman	Domestic
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Delahunty 17 Joseph Street Palmerston North
Folio	2842
Consent	Annie Florence Julia Voyce, Mother; Ruth Bowman, Mother.
Date of Certificate	17 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr H. Grinstead Church of Christ

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).