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 1873

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar A. H. Stuart

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

1 July 1918

William John O'Reilly
Mary Jane Head

William John O'Reilly
Mary Jane Head
💍 1918/1605

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

38
32

Upper Kokatahi
Kanieri

38 years
32 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kanieri

4640

1 July 1918

Rev Charles O'Reilly

No	8
Date of Notice	1 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John O'Reilly	Mary Jane Head
	💍 1918/1605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Upper Kokatahi	Kanieri
Length of Residence	38 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kanieri
Folio	4640
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Charles O'Reilly

15 July 1918

Frank Albert Poulson
Eileen Edith Asquith

Frank Albert Poulsen
Eileen Edith Asquith
💍 1918/1606

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic
Dentists Mechanic

19
19

Hokitika
Hokitika

two months
three weeks

"All Saints" Church, Hokitika

4641

Christian Poulson Father. Emma Asquith mother

15 July 1918

Rev Dr John E. Holloway.

No	9
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Albert Poulson	Eileen Edith Asquith
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Albert Poulsen	Eileen Edith Asquith
	💍 1918/1606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic	Dentists Mechanic
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	two months	three weeks
Marriage Place	"All Saints" Church, Hokitika
Folio	4641
Consent	Christian Poulson Father. Emma Asquith mother
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr John E. Holloway.

31 July 1918

Cecil Autherman
Anna Maria Patrick

Cecil Autheman
Anna Maria Patrick
💍 1918/1607

Bachelor
Spinster

Buttermaker
School Teacher.

30
35

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

At the residence of William Patrick Gibson Quay Hokitika

4642

31 July 1918

Rev John Riordan.

No	10
Date of Notice	31 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Autherman	Anna Maria Patrick
BDM Match (97%)	Cecil Autheman	Anna Maria Patrick
	💍 1918/1607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker	School Teacher.
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the residence of William Patrick Gibson Quay Hokitika
Folio	4642
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John Riordan.

31 August 1918

Patrick Nolan
Johanna Theresa Eggeling

Patrick Nolan
Johanna Theresa Eggeling
💍 1918/1608

Widower
Spinster

Farmer and Runholder
Housemaid

42
24

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika

4643

31 August 1918

Rev. John Riordan.

No	11
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Nolan	Johanna Theresa Eggeling
	💍 1918/1608
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer and Runholder	Housemaid
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	4643
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Riordan.

3 September 1918

Michael Clarence O'Driscoll
Dorothy Ann Lakin

Michael Clarence O'Driscoll
Dorothy Ann Lakin
💍 1918/1609

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital Attendant
Domestic

27
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

10 months
20 years.

"St Mary's" Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika

4644

3 September 1918

Rev John D. Clancy

No	12
Date of Notice	3 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Clarence O'Driscoll	Dorothy Ann Lakin
	💍 1918/1609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital Attendant	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	10 months	20 years.
Marriage Place	"St Mary's" Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	4644
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John D. Clancy

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).