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 1802

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar S. Tyson

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

29 July 1918

Francis Hazelhurst Newton
Grace Emily Chapman

Francis Hazelhurst Newton
Grace Emily Chapman
💍 1918/5471

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

24
22

Nelson
Nelson

12 years
22 years

Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson

18/4613

29 July 1918

Rev. J. A. Laird, Baptist

No	34
Date of Notice	29 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hazelhurst Newton	Grace Emily Chapman
	💍 1918/5471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	18/4613
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Laird, Baptist

29 July 1918

Thomas Douglas
Ivy Agnes Sharland

Thomas Douglas
Ivy Agnes Sharland
💍 1918/5472

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

25
24

Nelson
Maitai Valley, Nelson

4 weeks
24 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

18/4614

31 July 1918

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	29 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Douglas	Ivy Agnes Sharland
	💍 1918/5472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Maitai Valley, Nelson
Length of Residence	4 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	18/4614
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

31 July 1918

Vernon Melville Baigent
Nellie Sophia Andrews

Vernon Melville Baigent
Nellie Sophia Andrews
💍 1918/5473

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
30

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
4 days

Dwelling of John Harling, Vanguard Street, Nelson

18/4615

2 August 1918

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	31 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Melville Baigent	Nellie Sophia Andrews
	💍 1918/5473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of John Harling, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	18/4615
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

12 August 1918

Fletcher Christian Rowling
Agnes Cecilia Ellis

Fletcher Christian Rowling
Agnes Cecilia Ellis
💍 1918/5474

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
23

Nelson
Nelson

7 days
7 days

Cathedral, Nelson

18/4616

12 August 1918

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	12 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fletcher Christian Rowling	Agnes Cecilia Ellis
	💍 1918/5474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	18/4616
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

12 August 1918

Oke Barton
Amelia Frances Taylor Duirs

Oke Barton
Amelia Frances Taylor Duirs
💍 1918/5475

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

28
24

Nelson
Nelson

3 weeks
9 years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

18/4617

12 August 1918

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	12 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oke Barton	Amelia Frances Taylor Duirs
	💍 1918/5475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 weeks	9 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	18/4617
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, 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).