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 2284

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

11 January 1915

Stephen John Kinsey
Jane McAdams

Stephen John Kinsey
Jane McAdams
💍 1915/9376

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
36

Christchurch
Linwood

1 week
15 years

Methodist Church, Durham St. South, Christchurch

1683

11 January 1915

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	11 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen John Kinsey	Jane McAdams
	💍 1915/9376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	1 week	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St. South, Christchurch
Folio	1683
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

11 January 1915

Charles Thomas Makepeace
Hannah Pyle

Charles Thomas Makepeace
Hannah Pyle
💍 1915/7599

Bachelor
Widow 20.1.1906

Engine driver

68
50

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

166

11 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	11 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Makepeace	Hannah Pyle
	💍 1915/7599
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20.1.1906
Profession	Engine driver
Age	68	50
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	166
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

11 January 1915

Arthur Cuthbert Stow
Dorothy Wilton Burnet

Arthur Cuthbert Stow
Dorothy Hilton Burnet
💍 1915/9377

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

29
23

Opawa
Opawa

3 years
20 years

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

1725

11 January 1915

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	11 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cuthbert Stow	Dorothy Wilton Burnet
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Cuthbert Stow	Dorothy Hilton Burnet
	💍 1915/9377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	1725
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

12 January 1915

Frederic Henry Walter East
Susannah Fox

Frederic Henry Walter East
Susannah Fox
💍 1915/9269

Widower 23.2.1910
Spinster

Bookseller

41
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

38 years
Life

St. Mary's Church, Addington

1649

12 January 1915

Rev. W. B. Bean, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	12 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Henry Walter East	Susannah Fox
	💍 1915/9269
Condition	Widower 23.2.1910	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller
Age	41	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	38 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1649
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Bean, Anglican

12 January 1915

Arnold Daniel
Matilda Margaret Buchanan

Arnold Daniel
Matilda Margaret Buchanan
💍 1915/9276

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Tailoress

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
22 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1634

12 January 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	12 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Daniel	Matilda Margaret Buchanan
	💍 1915/9276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1634
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 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).