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 1853

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar James McIndoe

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

2 January 1918

Charles Edward Pilkington
Hetty Collings

Charles Edward Pilkington
Hetty Collings
💍 1918/1790

Bachelor
Widow 11/7/1916

Carrier
Housekeeper

32
36

Greymouth
Greymouth

9 years
7 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

1325

2 January 1918

James McIndoe Registrar of Marriages

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Pilkington	Hetty Collings
	💍 1918/1790
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 11/7/1916
Profession	Carrier	Housekeeper
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	9 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	1325
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1918
Officiating Minister	James McIndoe Registrar of Marriages

2 January 1918

Edgar Hildebrand
Maud Louisa McIntyre

Edgar Hildebrand
Maud Louisa McIntyre
💍 1918/1923

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Housekeeper

25
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 days
4 days

Dwelling house of Andrew Steele, Blake Street, Blaketown

1326

2 January 1918

Geo. W. York Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	2 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Hildebrand	Maud Louisa McIntyre
	💍 1918/1923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Housekeeper
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Andrew Steele, Blake Street, Blaketown
Folio	1326
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Geo. W. York Church of England

17 January 1918

Albert Aselsen
Florence Ellen Harper

Albert Axelsen
Florence Ellen Harper
💍 1918/1934

Widower 14/1/14
Spinster

Waterside worker
Domestic

51
35

Greymouth
Greymouth

20 years
2 weeks

At dwelling house of Mrs W. Sherratt, Preston Road, Greymouth

1327

17 January 1918

Capt. Inglis Salvation Army

No	3
Date of Notice	17 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Aselsen	Florence Ellen Harper
BDM Match (96%)	Albert Axelsen	Florence Ellen Harper
	💍 1918/1934
Condition	Widower 14/1/14	Spinster
Profession	Waterside worker	Domestic
Age	51	35
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	20 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	At dwelling house of Mrs W. Sherratt, Preston Road, Greymouth
Folio	1327
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Capt. Inglis Salvation Army

19 January 1918

Hugh McLuskie
Maud Masters

Hugh McLuskie
Maud Masters
💍 1918/1941

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

24
27

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
3 days

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

1328

19 January 1918

E. D. Patchett Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	19 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McLuskie	Maud Masters
	💍 1918/1941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	1328
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1918
Officiating Minister	E. D. Patchett Methodist

23 January 1918

William Anderson
Elizabeth Pascal

William Anderson
Elizabeth Pascoe
💍 1918/1942

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
25

Blaketown
Greymouth

15 years
9 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

1329

23 January 1918

J. T. Coursey Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Anderson	Elizabeth Pascal
BDM Match (94%)	William Anderson	Elizabeth Pascoe
	💍 1918/1942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Blaketown	Greymouth
Length of Residence	15 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	1329
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	J. T. Coursey Church of England

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).