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 1998

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar C. O. 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

2 February 1915

Harry Hopkins
Elizabeth Hannah Kent

Harry Hopkins
Elizabeth Hannah Kent
💍 1915/2492

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

37
25

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 year
9 months

Church of England, Blenheim

15/4428

2 February 1915

Rev. H. B. W. White Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hopkins	Elizabeth Hannah Kent
	💍 1915/2492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 year	9 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	15/4428
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. W. White Church of England

6 February 1915

Hope Snowden
Hannah Stuart

Hope Snowden
Hannah Stuart
💍 1915/7846

Widower
Spinster

Engine driver
House-keeper

28
38

Seddon
Seddon

5 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

15/1218

6 February 1915

C. O. Trownson Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	6 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hope Snowden	Hannah Stuart
	💍 1915/7846
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	House-keeper
Age	28	38
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Seddon
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	15/1218
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1915
Officiating Minister	C. O. Trownson Registrar

11 February 1915

Patrick Augustine Casey
Honora Mary Nolan

Patrick Augustine Casey
Honora Mary Nolan
💍 1915/7852

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
29

Ward
Grove Town

34 years
29 years

St Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim

15/1223

11 February 1915

Rev. P. Fay Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Augustine Casey	Honora Mary Nolan
	💍 1915/7852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Ward	Grove Town
Length of Residence	34 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	15/1223
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay Roman Catholic

11 February 1915

Robert George Croudis
Olive May Jones

Robert George Croudis
Olive May Jones
💍 1915/7849

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk NZ Railways
Domestic duties

24
19

Grove Town
Grove Town

2 years
19 years

Grove Farm residence of William Jones of Grove Town

15/1220

William Jones Father

13 February 1915

Rev. Wm Wollstein Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Croudis	Olive May Jones
	💍 1915/7849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk NZ Railways	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Grove Town	Grove Town
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Grove Farm residence of William Jones of Grove Town
Folio	15/1220
Consent	William Jones Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Wollstein Church of England

24 February 1915

Reginald Victor Taylor
Clarice Havergall Vercoe

Reginald Victor Taylor
Clarice Havergal Vercoe
💍 1915/7847

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter and paperhanger
Domestic

26
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
14 days

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

15/1219

24 February 1915

Ven. Archdeacon T. S. Grace Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Victor Taylor	Clarice Havergall Vercoe
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald Victor Taylor	Clarice Havergal Vercoe
	💍 1915/7847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter and paperhanger	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	15/1219
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon T. S. Grace Church of England

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).