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 2184

District of Waimea South Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Eliab Baigent

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

19 November 1915

Peter Morrison
Martha Alice Waterhouse

Peter Morrison
Martha Alice Waterhouse
💍 1915/14711

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

45
53

Wakefield
Wakefield

35 years
53 years

Residence of Alice Waterhouse, Wakefield

15/9513

19 November 1915

John G. Price, Church of Christ

No	80
Date of Notice	19 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Morrison	Martha Alice Waterhouse
	💍 1915/14711
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	45	53
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	35 years	53 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alice Waterhouse, Wakefield
Folio	15/9513
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1915
Officiating Minister	John G. Price, Church of Christ

30 November 1915

Roy Ashley Button
Eileen Mary Taylor

Roy Ashley Sutton
Eileen Mary Taylor
💍 1915/5300

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

23
16

Wakefield
Wakefield

1 year
2 years

St Joseph's Church, Wakefield

15/7592

Joseph Taylor, Father

30 November 1915

James L. Barrows, Roman Catholic Priest

No	81
Date of Notice	30 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Ashley Button	Eileen Mary Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Roy Ashley Sutton	Eileen Mary Taylor
	💍 1915/5300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Wakefield
Folio	15/7592
Consent	Joseph Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	30 November 1915
Officiating Minister	James L. Barrows, Roman Catholic Priest

8 December 1915

Arthur Thompson Baigent
Vera Doris Higgins

Arthur Thompson Baigent
Vera Dorice Higgins
💍 1915/7017

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Proprietor
Domestic duties

22
21

Wakefield
Spring Grove

22 years
21 years

Church of Christ, Spring Grove

15/9493

8 December 1915

S. J. Mathieson, Church of Christ

No	82
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thompson Baigent	Vera Doris Higgins
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Thompson Baigent	Vera Dorice Higgins
	💍 1915/7017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Spring Grove
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Spring Grove
Folio	15/9493
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	S. J. Mathieson, Church of Christ

22 December 1915

Eugene Kenneth Ernest Jeffries
Margaret Alice Ross

Eugene Kenneth Ernest Jeffries
Margaret Alice Russ
💍 1915/7064

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
22

Waimea West
Waimea West

3 days
22 years

Residence of George Russ, Waimea West

15/9527

22 December 1915

John G. Price, Church of Christ

No	83
Date of Notice	22 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Kenneth Ernest Jeffries	Margaret Alice Ross
BDM Match (97%)	Eugene Kenneth Ernest Jeffries	Margaret Alice Russ
	💍 1915/7064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Waimea West	Waimea West
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Russ, Waimea West
Folio	15/9527
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	John G. Price, Church of Christ

27 December 1915

Ralph Cleveland Gibbs
Hazel Isabel Norris

Ralph Cleveland Gibbs
Hazel Isabel Morriss
💍 1915/7015

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
20

Wakefield
Wakefield

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office, Wakefield

15/9491

Richard Francis Norris, Father

27 December 1915

Eliab Baigent, Registrar of Marriages

No	84
Date of Notice	27 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Cleveland Gibbs	Hazel Isabel Norris
BDM Match (95%)	Ralph Cleveland Gibbs	Hazel Isabel Morriss
	💍 1915/7015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wakefield
Folio	15/9491
Consent	Richard Francis Norris, Father
Date of Certificate	27 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Eliab Baigent, Registrar of Marriages

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).