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 1284

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar H. Miller

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 November 1918

Reuben Cornelius Theophilus Reeves
Kathleen Levina Maud Davis

Reuben Cornelius Theophilus Reeves
Kathleen Levina Maud Davies
💍 1918/1734

Bachelor
Spinster

Soda Fountain Proprietor
Waitress

29
24

Masterton
Masterton

25 years
10 years

Residence of Mrs Liddington, Worksop Road, Masterton

6221

4 November 1918

Rev. J. A. Hosking, Methodist Minister

No	57
Date of Notice	4 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Cornelius Theophilus Reeves	Kathleen Levina Maud Davis
BDM Match (98%)	Reuben Cornelius Theophilus Reeves	Kathleen Levina Maud Davies
	💍 1918/1734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soda Fountain Proprietor	Waitress
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Liddington, Worksop Road, Masterton
Folio	6221
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hosking, Methodist Minister

5 November 1918

Eldon Lakes Moore
Mary Bunny

Eldon Oakes Moore
Mary Bunny
💍 1918/1737

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Domestic Duties

33
21

Masterton
Masterton

33 years
21 years

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

6223

5 November 1918

Right Reverend Monsignor John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

No	58
Date of Notice	5 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eldon Lakes Moore	Mary Bunny
BDM Match (97%)	Eldon Oakes Moore	Mary Bunny
	💍 1918/1737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Domestic Duties
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	33 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	6223
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Right Reverend Monsignor John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

9 November 1918

Leslie Charles Wyeth
Alma Hollyman Pickering

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor + Electrical Engineer
Civil Servant

24
20

Masterton
Masterton

24 years
20 years

Presbyterian Manse Lansdowne Masterton

David Alexander Pickering Father

9 November 1918

Rev. Thomas Halliday, Presbyterian Minister

No	59
Date of Notice	9 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Charles Wyeth	Alma Hollyman Pickering
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor + Electrical Engineer	Civil Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Lansdowne Masterton
Folio
Consent	David Alexander Pickering Father
Date of Certificate	9 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Halliday, Presbyterian Minister

11 November 1918

Henry Herbert William
Myrtle Willis Devonport

Henry Hector Williams
Myrtle Willis Devonport
💍 1918/6191

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

25
23

Masterton
Masterton

25 years
23 years

Church of England, Masterton

5868

11 November 1918

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England Clergyman

No	60
Date of Notice	11 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Herbert William	Myrtle Willis Devonport
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Hector Williams	Myrtle Willis Devonport
	💍 1918/6191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Masterton
Folio	5868
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England Clergyman

20 November 1918

Thomas Henry Irwin
Norah Gracie Pinkney

Thomas Henry Urwin
Norah Gracie Pinkney
💍 1918/6193

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailress

31
21

Masterton
Masterton

6 months
21 years

St. Matthews Church Masterton

5869

20 November 1918

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England Clergyman

No	61
Date of Notice	20 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Irwin	Norah Gracie Pinkney
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Henry Urwin	Norah Gracie Pinkney
	💍 1918/6193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailress
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Masterton
Folio	5869
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England Clergyman

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).