Intentions to Marry, 1918 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840479, 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.

1918e contains pages 1647-2188, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1727

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar A. G. Dale

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

21 October 1918

Benjamin Arthur McDonagh
Lynda Ester Emily Woodwood

Benjamin Arthur McDonagh
Lynda Esther Emily Woodwood
💍 1918/1707

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic

28
22

Westport
Westport

28 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Westport

18/5965

21 October 1918

Rev. G. B. Dudley, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	21 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Arthur McDonagh	Lynda Ester Emily Woodwood
BDM Match (98%)	Benjamin Arthur McDonagh	Lynda Esther Emily Woodwood
	💍 1918/1707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Westport
Folio	18/5965
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Dudley, Methodist

13 November 1918

Robert Bell McBeath Miller
Dorothy Helen Darrach

Robert Beda McBeth Miller
Dorothy Helen Darrach
💍 1918/1708

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk
Home duties

26
25

Westport
Westport

4 years
25 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Westport

18/5966

13 November 1918

Rev. A. Miller, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	13 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bell McBeath Miller	Dorothy Helen Darrach
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Beda McBeth Miller	Dorothy Helen Darrach
	💍 1918/1708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk	Home duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Westport
Folio	18/5966
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Miller, Presbyterian

5 December 1918

George Old
Henrietta Fontana

George Old
Henrietta Fontana
💍 1918/6386

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
Housekeeper

32
34

Berlins
Berlins

15 days
15 days

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

18/6017

5 December 1918

Rev. Father Hegarty, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	5 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Old	Henrietta Fontana
	💍 1918/6386
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Housekeeper
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Berlins	Berlins
Length of Residence	15 days	15 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	18/6017
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hegarty, Roman Catholic

10 December 1918

Fredrick Keating
Amelia Sarah Edge

Fredrick Keating
Amelia Sarah Edge
💍 1918/1709

Divorced 29/11/18
Spinster

Garage Proprietor
Domestic

42
32

Westport
Westport

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office

18/5967

10 December 1918

The Registrar, Westport

No	27
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Keating	Amelia Sarah Edge
	💍 1918/1709
Condition	Divorced 29/11/18	Spinster
Profession	Garage Proprietor	Domestic
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	18/5967
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Westport

23 December 1918

Frederick Lingard Fowlds
Mary Jane Wild

Frederick Lingard Fowlds
Mary Jane Wild
💍 1918/1710

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Housewife

27
27

Westport
Westport

3 years
2 years

St Canice's Roman Catholic Church, Westport

18/5968

23 December 1918

Rt. Revd. Monsignor T. Walshe, Roman Catholic

No	28
Date of Notice	23 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lingard Fowlds	Mary Jane Wild
	💍 1918/1710
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Housewife
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Canice's Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	18/5968
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rt. Revd. Monsignor T. Walshe, Roman Catholic

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).