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 2008

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar W. T. Trownson

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

28 August 1915

Stanley Herbert Norris
Florence May Rogers

Stanley Herbert Norris
Florence May Rogers
💍 1915/3870

Bachelor
Spinster

Rifleman
Domestic

22
21

Blenheim
Lansdowne, Wairau Valley

3 days
21 years

Church of England, Blenheim

15/5987

28 August 1915

Ven Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	28 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Herbert Norris	Florence May Rogers
	💍 1915/3870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rifleman	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Lansdowne, Wairau Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	15/5987
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

28 August 1915

Ernest Edgar Tuckerman
Mary Kate Agnes Cox
usually known as Mary Kate Agnes Kak

Ernest Edgar Tuckerman
Mary Kate Agnes Kak
💍 1915/3889

Divorced
Spinster

Driver
Domestic

32
17

Blenheim
Blenheim

7 years
17 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

15/5983

Lizzie Cox, Mother

28 August 1915

Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	28 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edgar Tuckerman	Mary Kate Agnes Cox usually known as Mary Kate Agnes Kak
BDM Match (92%)	Ernest Edgar Tuckerman	Mary Kate Agnes Kak
	💍 1915/3889
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic
Age	32	17
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	15/5983
Consent	Lizzie Cox, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

31 August 1915

William Lunn
Emily Hollis
formerly Grooby

William Lunn
Emily Hollis
💍 1915/3890

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

54
52

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

15/5984

31 August 1915

Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	31 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lunn	Emily Hollis formerly Grooby
	💍 1915/3890
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	54	52
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	15/5984
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

4 September 1915

Ernest Newton Ward
Edith Isabelle Daisy Thoms

Ernest Newton Ward
Edith Isabelle Daisy Thoms
💍 1915/3891

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic

24
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

24 years
20 years

Mrs. E. Onion's Residence, Springlands, Blenheim

15/5985

Elizabeth Onion, Mother

7 September 1915

Ven Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	4 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Newton Ward	Edith Isabelle Daisy Thoms
	💍 1915/3891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. E. Onion's Residence, Springlands, Blenheim
Folio	15/5985
Consent	Elizabeth Onion, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

18 September 1915

George Fredrick Anders
Florence Clara Eveline Hodson

George Frederick Anders
Florence Clara Eveline Hodson
💍 1915/3886

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

7 years
23 years

Residence of Mr. R. Hodson, South St, Blenheim

15/5980

18 September 1915

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	18 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Fredrick Anders	Florence Clara Eveline Hodson
BDM Match (98%)	George Frederick Anders	Florence Clara Eveline Hodson
	💍 1915/3886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Hodson, South St, Blenheim
Folio	15/5980
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).