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 1794

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 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

4 February 1918

Lauritz Ferdenan Gould
Tamazine Emma Warne

Lauritz Ferdenan Gould
Tamazine Emma Warne
💍 1918/1796

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson.

18/1308

4 February 1918

Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lauritz Ferdenan Gould	Tamazine Emma Warne
	💍 1918/1796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson.
Folio	18/1308
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

13 February 1918

William Smith Elliott
Ada Nuttall

William Smith Elliott
Ada Nuttall
💍 1918/1797

Widower 1910
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

51
40

Nelson
Nelson

7 days
6 weeks

Residence of Mr. Bert Johnston, Mount Street, Nelson.

18/1309

13 February 1918

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith Elliott	Ada Nuttall
	💍 1918/1797
Condition	Widower 1910	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	51	40
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Bert Johnston, Mount Street, Nelson.
Folio	18/1309
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

18 February 1918

William Henry Bartlett
Alice Marjory Rutherford

William Henry Bartlett
Alice Marjory Rutherford
💍 1918/1775

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
23

Nelson
Wakatu

12 months
23 years

Dwelling of John Rutherford situated at Wakatu

18/1310

18 February 1918

Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Bartlett	Alice Marjory Rutherford
	💍 1918/1775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wakatu
Length of Residence	12 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of John Rutherford situated at Wakatu
Folio	18/1310
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

21 February 1918

James Jones
Emily Scrimgeour

James Jones
Emily Mary Scrimgeour
💍 1918/1776

Widower 25/9/1900
Widow 24/5/1917

Labourer
Domestic duties

43
38

Nelson
Nelson

7 days
10 years

Residence of Mrs. M. Benson, Waimea Road, Nelson.

18/1311

23 February 1918

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	21 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jones	Emily Scrimgeour
BDM Match (88%)	James Jones	Emily Mary Scrimgeour
	💍 1918/1776
Condition	Widower 25/9/1900	Widow 24/5/1917
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	43	38
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. Benson, Waimea Road, Nelson.
Folio	18/1311
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

25 February 1918

Francis Wilfred White
Ella Rubenia Scott

Francis Wilfred White
Ella Rubenia Scott
💍 1918/1777

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

26
22

Nelson
Nelson

26 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

18/1312

27 February 1918

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Wilfred White	Ella Rubenia Scott
	💍 1918/1777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	26 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	18/1312
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

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).