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 1793

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar B. Lyon

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

18 January 1918

Stanley Scott Collier
Grace Lillias Janet Webley

Stanley Scott Collier
Grace Lillias Janet Webley
💍 1918/1791

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Clerk

28
24

Nelson
Nelson

5 years
24 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson

18/1303

18 January 1918

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	18 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Scott Collier	Grace Lillias Janet Webley
	💍 1918/1791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	18/1303
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

1 February 1918

Alfred John Walter Riches
Agnes Bishop

Alfred John Walter Riches
Agnes Bishop
💍 1918/1792

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
School-teacher

29
22

Nelson
Tapawera

3 days
7 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

18/1304

1 February 1918

Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Walter Riches	Agnes Bishop
	💍 1918/1792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	School-teacher
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Tapawera
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	18/1304
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

2 February 1918

John Roy Terry
Mary Louisa Witter

John Roy Terry
Mary Louisa Witter
💍 1918/1793

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Domestic help

47
26

Nelson
Nelson

14 months
2 years

Dwelling of Mr. Arthur Morgan, Nile Street, Nelson

18/1305

2 February 1918

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	2 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roy Terry	Mary Louisa Witter
	💍 1918/1793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Domestic help
Age	47	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Arthur Morgan, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	18/1305
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

4 February 1918

Verner Bertie Turner
Florence Theresa Harvey

Verner Bertie Turner
Florence Theresa Harvey
💍 1918/1794

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic duties

25
21

Waitata Bay
Waitata Bay

25 years
21 years

Dwelling of Robert King Turner, Waitata Bay

18/1306

4 February 1918

Rev. J. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Verner Bertie Turner	Florence Theresa Harvey
	💍 1918/1794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Waitata Bay	Waitata Bay
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert King Turner, Waitata Bay
Folio	18/1306
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

2 February 1918

Albert Thomas Douglas
Margaret Mathews

Albert Thomas Douglas
Margaret Mathews
💍 1918/1795

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit packer
Domestic duties

24
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
17 years

Dwelling of George Michael Mathews, Haven Road, Nelson

18/1307

4 February 1918

Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	2 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thomas Douglas	Margaret Mathews
	💍 1918/1795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit packer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of George Michael Mathews, Haven Road, Nelson
Folio	18/1307
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons, 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).