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 2294

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

30 January 1915

Michael Bernard Percasky
Agnes Hamilton Caldwell

Michael Bernard Percasky
Agnes Hamilton Caldwell
💍 1915/9242

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

23
22

Marshland
Linwood

22 years
2 1/2 years

St. Marys Roman Catholic Church Christchurch

1597

30 January 1915

Rev. L. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	76
Date of Notice	30 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Bernard Percasky	Agnes Hamilton Caldwell
	💍 1915/9242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Linwood
Length of Residence	22 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Roman Catholic Church Christchurch
Folio	1597
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

30 January 1915

Harry Wortley Baker
Olive Edith Voice

Harry Wortley Cater
Olive Edith Voice
💍 1915/9272

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

31
20

St. Albans
St. Albans

1 year
8 years

St. Mary's Church Merivale

1630

Edith Alice Voice, Mother

30 January 1915

Rev. C. H. Gosset, Anglican

No	77
Date of Notice	30 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Wortley Baker	Olive Edith Voice
BDM Match (95%)	Harry Wortley Cater	Olive Edith Voice
	💍 1915/9272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	1630
Consent	Edith Alice Voice, Mother
Date of Certificate	30 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Gosset, Anglican

30 January 1915

Brigham Robert Turner
Rosanna M. Borg

Bircham Robert Turner
Rosanna McCoy
💍 1915/7866

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

26
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
1 year

Vestry of Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

1563

30 January 1915

Rev. J. W. Price, Roman Catholic

No	78
Date of Notice	30 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brigham Robert Turner	Rosanna M. Borg
BDM Match (76%)	Bircham Robert Turner	Rosanna McCoy
	💍 1915/7866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Vestry of Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	1563
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Price, Roman Catholic

1 February 1915

Thomas Henry Hellyar
Sarah Jane Dunlop

Thomas Henry Hellyar
Sarah Jane Dunlop
💍 1915/387

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Cook

46
39

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
3 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

177

1 February 1915

Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Hellyar	Sarah Jane Dunlop
	💍 1915/387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Cook
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	177
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1 February 1915

Ernest Henry David Dickie
Laura Ballantine

Ernest Henry David Dickie
Laura Ballantine
💍 1915/9236

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
Life

St. Pauls Manse Christchurch

1592

1 February 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry David Dickie	Laura Ballantine
	💍 1915/9236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Manse Christchurch
Folio	1592
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

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).