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 1280

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar James 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

23 August 1918

Samuel James Clarke
Annie Mabel Kjestrup

Samuel James Clarke
Annie Mabel Kjestrup
💍 1918/4881

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Household Duties

26
25

Masterton
Rangitumau

3 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church Rangitumau

4429

23 August 1918

Rev. Thomas Halliday, Presbyterian Minister

No	41
Date of Notice	23 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James Clarke	Annie Mabel Kjestrup
	💍 1918/4881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Household Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Rangitumau
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Rangitumau
Folio	4429
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Halliday, Presbyterian Minister

26 August 1918

Alfred Thomas Dickason
Ellen Hill

Alfred Thomas Dickason
Ellen Hill
💍 1918/4882

William George Wilkinson
Ellen Hill
💍 1918/2261

Widower
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic Duties

40
33

Masterton
Masterton

10 years
3 weeks

Office of Registrar Masterton

4430

26 August 1918

James Miller, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	26 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Dickason	Ellen Hill
	💍 1918/4882
BDM Match (69%)	William George Wilkinson	Ellen Hill
	💍 1918/2261
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	10 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Masterton
Folio	4430
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1918
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

3 September 1918

Roy Frederick Riley
Rose Gladys Irene Hall

Roy Frederick Lile
Rose Gladys Irene Hall
💍 1918/3281

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Domestic Duties

20
17

Featherston
Masterton

9 months
1 month

Office of Registrar Masterton

4431

No person in New Zealand having authority to give consent. Mother Annie Hall now Mrs Waddley (father dead)

3 September 1918

James Miller, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	3 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Frederick Riley	Rose Gladys Irene Hall
BDM Match (95%)	Roy Frederick Lile	Rose Gladys Irene Hall
	💍 1918/3281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier New Zealand Expeditionary Force	Domestic Duties
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Masterton
Length of Residence	9 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Masterton
Folio	4431
Consent	No person in New Zealand having authority to give consent. Mother Annie Hall now Mrs Waddley (father dead)
Date of Certificate	3 September 1918
Officiating Minister	James Miller, Registrar

4 September 1918

John Joseph Cosgrove
Marguerit Manning

John Joseph Cosgrove
Margaret Manning
💍 1918/5262

Bachelor
Divorced

Soldier New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Confectioner (now in business for self)

25
29

(u) Featherston Camp (p) Masterton
Masterton

3 days
2 months

Residence of Rev. G. A. Hosking Masterton

4598

Decree Absolute 20/8/1918 (verified)

4 September 1918

Rev. James Alfred Hosking, Methodist Minister

No	44
Date of Notice	4 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Cosgrove	Marguerit Manning
BDM Match (91%)	John Joseph Cosgrove	Margaret Manning
	💍 1918/5262
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Soldier New Zealand Expeditionary Force	Confectioner (now in business for self)
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	(u) Featherston Camp (p) Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. A. Hosking Masterton
Folio	4598
Consent	Decree Absolute 20/8/1918 (verified)
Date of Certificate	4 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Alfred Hosking, Methodist Minister

12 September 1918

Peter Lee McLaren
Nancy Robertson McLaren

Peter Lee McLaren
Nancy Robertson McLeay
💍 1918/4883

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

28
27

Masterton
Masterton

12 years
2 weeks

Knox Church Masterton

4432

12 September 1918

Rev. Laurence Thompson, Presbyterian Minister

No	45
Date of Notice	12 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Lee McLaren	Nancy Robertson McLaren
BDM Match (91%)	Peter Lee McLaren	Nancy Robertson McLeay
	💍 1918/4883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	12 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Knox Church Masterton
Folio	4432
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Laurence Thompson, Presbyterian Minister

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).