Intentions to Marry, 1915 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840461, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 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.

1915e contains pages 1973-2618, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 2520

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar W. Mansell

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

24/15

4 November 1915

William Henry Marsh
Mere Kirini Tawera

William Henry Marsh
Mere Hirini Tawera
💍 1915/7100

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

38
36

Taumutu
Taumutu

18 years
36 years

Office of The Registrar Leeston

9563

4 November 1915

W. Mansell, Registrar, Leeston

No	24/15
Date of Notice	4 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Marsh	Mere Kirini Tawera
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Marsh	Mere Hirini Tawera
	💍 1915/7100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Taumutu	Taumutu
Length of Residence	18 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Office of The Registrar Leeston
Folio	9563
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Mansell, Registrar, Leeston

25/15

29 November 1915

Arthur Pulford
Eva Maud Kelly

Arthur Pulford
Eva Maud Kelly
💍 1915/7098

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic Duties

26
25

Killinchy
Killinchy

10 months
3 months

Residence of Mr Wm Hogg Killinchy

9561

29 November 1915

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	25/15
Date of Notice	29 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Pulford	Eva Maud Kelly
	💍 1915/7098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Killinchy
Length of Residence	10 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Wm Hogg Killinchy
Folio	9561
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

26/15

4 December 1915

James Hannah
Ada Hall

James Hannah
Ada Hall
💍 1915/7097

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

28
22

Southbridge
Southbridge

28 years
16 months

Residence of Mr Joseph Hannah Southbridge

9560

4 December 1915

Rev. R. H. Jackson, Southbridge

No	26/15
Date of Notice	4 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hannah	Ada Hall
	💍 1915/7097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	28 years	16 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Joseph Hannah Southbridge
Folio	9560
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Jackson, Southbridge

27/15

8 December 1915

Edward Dee
Agnes Haley

Edward Dee
Agnes Haley
💍 1915/7096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
22

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

6 months
4 years

Church of England Dunsandel

9559

8 December 1915

Rev. H. L. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	27/15
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Dee	Agnes Haley
	💍 1915/7096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Dunsandel
Folio	9559
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Hawkins, Southbridge

28/15

17 December 1915

James William Knight
Annie Gibson Marshall

James William Wright
Annie Gibson Marshall
💍 1915/7095

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
25

Kimberley
Leeston

2 months
25 years

Residence of Mr Gibson Marshall Leeston

9558

17 December 1915

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	28/15
Date of Notice	17 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Knight	Annie Gibson Marshall
BDM Match (95%)	James William Wright	Annie Gibson Marshall
	💍 1915/7095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Kimberley	Leeston
Length of Residence	2 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Gibson Marshall Leeston
Folio	9558
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).