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 2292

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

27 January 1915

John Blair Pearson
Mary Elizabeth Ewart

John Blair Pearson
Mary Elizabeth Ewart
💍 1915/9270

Bachelor
Spinster

Coke merchant
Tailoress

27
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

27 years
8 years

Congregational Church, Ferry Road, Linwood

1628

27 January 1915

Rev. H. A. Job, Congregational

No	66
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Blair Pearson	Mary Elizabeth Ewart
	💍 1915/9270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coke merchant	Tailoress
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Ferry Road, Linwood
Folio	1628
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job, Congregational

27 January 1915

Albert Arthur Sandford
Margaret Emma Kepple

Albert Arthur Sandford
Margaret Emma Kepple
💍 1915/7891

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

38
30

Christchurch
Spreydon

2 years
30 years

Methodist Church, Durham St North, Christchurch

1613

27 January 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Arthur Sandford	Margaret Emma Kepple
	💍 1915/7891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St North, Christchurch
Folio	1613
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

27 January 1915

John William Steven
Ada Port

John William Steven
Ada Post
💍 1915/7609

Widower
Widow

Accountant

46
33

Christchurch
Spreydon

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

175

27 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	68
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Steven	Ada Port
BDM Match (94%)	John William Steven	Ada Post
	💍 1915/7609
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Accountant
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	175
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

27 January 1915

William Archibald Smellie Smith
Annie Amelia Arrow

William Archibald Smellie Smith
Annie Amelia Arrow
💍 1915/9237

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

24
21

Christchurch
Linwood

Life
4 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Manse, Christchurch

1593

27 January 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Archibald Smellie Smith	Annie Amelia Arrow
	💍 1915/9237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	Life	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Manse, Christchurch
Folio	1593
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

27 January 1915

Archibald Gilmour Bennett
Hilda Janet Yardley

Archibald Gilmour Bennett
Hilda Janet Ardley
💍 1915/7901

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

33
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
25 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

1622

27 January 1915

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	70
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Gilmour Bennett	Hilda Janet Yardley
BDM Match (95%)	Archibald Gilmour Bennett	Hilda Janet Ardley
	💍 1915/7901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

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).