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 2260

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

20 April 1915

Joseph Henry Gurney
Adeline Spendlove Wright

Joseph Henry Gundry
Adeline Spendlove Wright
💍 1915/2104

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy farmer
domestic duties

23
16

Staveley
Staveley

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3956

Adeline Marion Pollock mother of minor

20 April 1915

W. W. White Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	20 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Gurney	Adeline Spendlove Wright
BDM Match (92%)	Joseph Henry Gundry	Adeline Spendlove Wright
	💍 1915/2104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy farmer	domestic duties
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Staveley	Staveley
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3956
Consent	Adeline Marion Pollock mother of minor
Date of Certificate	20 April 1915
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

28 April 1915

Robert John Johnstone Jones
Annie Elizabeth Dellow

Robert John Johnstone Jones
Annie Elizabeth Dellow
💍 1915/2088

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic Duties

32
19

Arundel
Allenton

3 days
19 years

At the dwelling of William Hyde Allenton

3964

William Dellow father of minor

28 April 1915

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	28
Date of Notice	28 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Johnstone Jones	Annie Elizabeth Dellow
	💍 1915/2088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Arundel	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of William Hyde Allenton
Folio	3964
Consent	William Dellow father of minor
Date of Certificate	28 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

19 May 1915

Thomas Wilson
Ellen O'Loughlin

Thomas Wilson
Ellen O'Loughlin
💍 1915/2807

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
domestic duties

48
37

Tinwald
Tinwald

40 years
37 years

Catholic Presbytery Ashburton

4914

19 May 1915

Dean O'Donnell

No	29
Date of Notice	19 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson	Ellen O'Loughlin
	💍 1915/2807
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	domestic duties
Age	48	37
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	40 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery Ashburton
Folio	4914
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

22 May 1915

John Thomas White
Martha Jane Bowen

John Thomas White
Martha Jane Cowen
💍 1915/2217

John Spowart White
Elizabeth Haldane Brown
💍 1915/4120

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

47
34

Eiffelton
Ashburton

41 years
34 years

Church of England Ashburton

4121

22 May 1915

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	30
Date of Notice	22 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas White	Martha Jane Bowen
BDM Match (97%)	John Thomas White	Martha Jane Cowen
	💍 1915/2217
BDM Match (60%)	John Spowart White	Elizabeth Haldane Brown
	💍 1915/4120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	47	34
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	41 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	4121
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

31 May 1915

Alexander McKay
Theresa Caroline McLauchlan

Alexander McKay
Theresa Caroline McLauchlan
💍 1915/2806

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

41
23

Coldstream
Tinwald

11 years
23 years

Catholic Presbytery Ashburton

4913

31 May 1915

Dean O'Donnell

No	31
Date of Notice	31 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McKay	Theresa Caroline McLauchlan
	💍 1915/2806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	41	23
Dwelling Place	Coldstream	Tinwald
Length of Residence	11 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery Ashburton
Folio	4913
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

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).