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 2496

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1915

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

1069

22 December 1915

Frederick Francis Ohlson
Evangeline Maude South

Frederick Francis Ohlson
Evangaline Maude South
💍 1915/7164

Widower 14 April 1915
Spinster

Bootmaker
Machinist

47
35

St. Albans
Timaru

4 years
3 days

Residence of Mrs Harris Morgan's Rd Timaru

9653

22 December 1915

Rev. R. J. Liddell Methodist

No	1069
Date of Notice	22 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Francis Ohlson	Evangeline Maude South
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Francis Ohlson	Evangaline Maude South
	💍 1915/7164
Condition	Widower 14 April 1915	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Machinist
Age	47	35
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Harris Morgan's Rd Timaru
Folio	9653
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell Methodist

1070

22 December 1915

Cyril George Green
Adelaide Jessie Charlotte Thomas

Cyril George Green
Adelaide Jessie Charlotte Thomas
💍 1915/5682

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

22
18

Linwood
Linwood

4 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

8051

Herbert John Thomas, father

22 December 1915

Registrar

No	1070
Date of Notice	22 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril George Green	Adelaide Jessie Charlotte Thomas
	💍 1915/5682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	8051
Consent	Herbert John Thomas, father
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1071

23 December 1915

Henry John Seymour
Mary Myall

Henry John Seymour
Mary Myall
💍 1915/5856

Bachelor
Widow 23 August 1910

Labourer

43
48

St. Albans
St. Albans

2 weeks
5 years

Dwelling of Mrs Myall 13 Trafalgar St. St. Albans

8226

22 December 1915

Rev. A. A. Ronsley Methodist

No	1071
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Seymour	Mary Myall
	💍 1915/5856
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 23 August 1910
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	48
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Myall 13 Trafalgar St. St. Albans
Folio	8226
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Ronsley Methodist

1072

23 December 1915

Walter Stephen Badham
Nellie Payne

Walter Stephen Badham
Nellie Payne
💍 1915/5857

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Tailoress

25
23

Woolston
Christchurch

20 years
23 years

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

8227

23 December 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

No	1072
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stephen Badham	Nellie Payne
	💍 1915/5857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Tailoress
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	8227
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

1073

23 December 1915

Alexander Ferguson Marr
Christina Polson

Alexander Ferguson Marr
Christina Polson
💍 1916/10009

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

31
33

Methven
Merivale

25 years
3 years

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

1478

23 December 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

No	1073
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Ferguson Marr	Christina Polson
	💍 1916/10009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Methven	Merivale
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	1478
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

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).