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 1276

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar 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

15 April 1918

William Gibbs
Sarah Jane Davis

William Gibbs
Sarah Jane Davies
💍 1918/3173

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

29
21

Featherston Camp
Masterton

3 months
5 years

Registrar's Office Masterton

2790

15 April 1918

Wm. M. Easthope, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	15 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gibbs	Sarah Jane Davis
BDM Match (97%)	William Gibbs	Sarah Jane Davies
	💍 1918/3173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Featherston Camp	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Masterton
Folio	2790
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Wm. M. Easthope, Registrar

19 April 1918

Albert Ernest Onslow Robertson
Constance Margaret Easthope

Albert Ernest Onslow Robertson
Constance Margaret Easthope
💍 1918/3174

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

25
26

Kaitoke
Masterton

11 months
26 years

Wesleyan Parsonage Masterton

2791

19 April 1918

Rev. J. A. Hosking, Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	19 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Onslow Robertson	Constance Margaret Easthope
	💍 1918/3174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Kaitoke	Masterton
Length of Residence	11 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage Masterton
Folio	2791
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hosking, Methodist

10 May 1918

George Manihera
Wiki Heta

George Manihera
Wiki Heta
💍 1918/3175

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

17
18

Masterton
Masterton

17 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Masterton

2792

Hiria Edwards & Martha Bevan, mothers

10 May 1918

Wm. M. Easthope, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	10 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Manihera	Wiki Heta
	💍 1918/3175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	17	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	17 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Masterton
Folio	2792
Consent	Hiria Edwards & Martha Bevan, mothers
Date of Certificate	10 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Wm. M. Easthope, Registrar

13 May 1918

Philip Henry Amberger
Ivy Arminele Olivier

Philip Henry Amberger
Ivy Annivell Oliver
💍 1918/3176

Bachelor
Spinster

Rabbit Inspector
Domestic Duties

38
21

Masterton
Masterton

4 days
7 months

St Matthews Church Masterton

2793

13 May 1918

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	13 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Henry Amberger	Ivy Arminele Olivier
BDM Match (88%)	Philip Henry Amberger	Ivy Annivell Oliver
	💍 1918/3176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rabbit Inspector	Domestic Duties
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 days	7 months
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Masterton
Folio	2793
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

20 May 1918

Alexander McPhee Colquhoun
Effie Zelanda Jane Wall

Alexander McPhee Colquhoun
Effie Zealandia Jane Wall
💍 1918/3177

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
27

Featherston Camp
Lansdowne Masterton

11 months
16 years

Presbyterian Church Lansdowne Masterton

2794

20 May 1918

Rev. G. Halliday, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McPhee Colquhoun	Effie Zelanda Jane Wall
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander McPhee Colquhoun	Effie Zealandia Jane Wall
	💍 1918/3177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Featherston Camp	Lansdowne Masterton
Length of Residence	11 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lansdowne Masterton
Folio	2794
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Halliday, Presbyterian

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).