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 2122

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar Samuel Tyson

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

23 February 1915

John Francis Foley
Ada Thomas

John Francis Foley
Ada Thomas
💍 1915/9009

Cyril Francis Connolly
Mona Thomas
💍 1915/2572

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Farmer
Domestic Duty

26
28

Nelson
Masterton

3 days

Wesleyan Parsonage, Nelson

15/1261

23 February 1915

Rev William Baumber

No	7
Date of Notice	23 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Foley	Ada Thomas
	💍 1915/9009
BDM Match (64%)	Cyril Francis Connolly	Mona Thomas
	💍 1915/2572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Farmer	Domestic Duty
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, Nelson
Folio	15/1261
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev William Baumber

9 March 1915

Frank Pickford Watson
Mable Sylvia Neame

Frank Pickford Watson
Mabel Sylvia Neame
💍 1915/9026

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Telephonist

28
18

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
6 days

Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

15/1254

M. A. G. Neame Mother

9 March 1915

Rev Father Tymons

No	8
Date of Notice	9 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Pickford Watson	Mable Sylvia Neame
BDM Match (94%)	Frank Pickford Watson	Mabel Sylvia Neame
	💍 1915/9026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Telephonist
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	15/1254
Consent	M. A. G. Neame Mother
Date of Certificate	9 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Tymons

12 March 1915

Henry George Brodie
Elizabeth Greaves

Henry George Brodie
Elizabeth Greaves
💍 1915/9030

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

25
26

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
4 months

All Saints Church of England, Nelson

15/1258

12 March 1915

Rev W. S. Lucas

No	9
Date of Notice	12 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Brodie	Elizabeth Greaves
	💍 1915/9030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Nelson
Folio	15/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Lucas

16 March 1915

Charles Dession Lash
Olive May Ladley

Charles Dession Lash
Olive May Ladley
💍 1915/9025

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

35
29

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
2 weeks

House of Hannah Eliza Ladley, No. 55 Waimea St., Nelson

15/1253

16 March 1915

Rev William E. Lambert

No	10
Date of Notice	16 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dession Lash	Olive May Ladley
	💍 1915/9025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Hannah Eliza Ladley, No. 55 Waimea St., Nelson
Folio	15/1253
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev William E. Lambert

18 March 1915

William Cuthbert Manssen
Inez Muriel Ricketts

William Cuthbert Manssen
Inez Muriel Ricketts
💍 1915/13151

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Dressmaker

29
24

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
24 years

All Saints Church of England, Vanguard St., Nelson

15/1259

18 March 1915

Rev W. S. Lucas

No	11
Date of Notice	18 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cuthbert Manssen	Inez Muriel Ricketts
	💍 1915/13151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Dressmaker
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Vanguard St., Nelson
Folio	15/1259
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Lucas

22 March 1915

Samuel Roy Gwaith
Florence Mildred Edwards

Samuel Roy Gawith
Florence Mildred Edwards
💍 1915/2027

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

33
36

Masterton
Nelson

8 years
36 years

All Saints' Church of England, Nelson

15/3882

22 March 1915

Rev W. S. Lucas

No	12
Date of Notice	22 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Roy Gwaith	Florence Mildred Edwards
BDM Match (94%)	Samuel Roy Gawith	Florence Mildred Edwards
	💍 1915/2027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 years	36 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church of England, Nelson
Folio	15/3882
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Lucas

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).