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 1983

District of Pelorus Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar P. Barrett

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

13 April 1915

Albert Barton
Amey Eliza Wells

Albert Barton
Emily Eliza Wells
💍 1915/1973

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
37

Onamalutu
Rai Valley

3 days
30 years

Church of England, Rai Valley

15/3829

13 April 1915

Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	13 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Barton	Amey Eliza Wells
BDM Match (91%)	Albert Barton	Emily Eliza Wells
	💍 1915/1973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Onamalutu	Rai Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rai Valley
Folio	15/3829
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

17 April 1915

Herbert Henry Scott
Emily Eliza Ann Robinson

Herbert Henry Scott
Emily Eliza Ann Robinson
💍 1915/1962

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
19

Takaka
Whakamarina

2 weeks
19 years

Residence of James Robinson, Whakamarina

15/3828

James Robinson father

17 April 1915

Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	17 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Scott	Emily Eliza Ann Robinson
	💍 1915/1962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Whakamarina
Length of Residence	2 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Robinson, Whakamarina
Folio	15/3828
Consent	James Robinson father
Date of Certificate	17 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

1 May 1915

Thomas William Newton
Elizabeth Fitzsimmons

Thomas William Newton
Elizabeth Fitzsimons
💍 1915/1954

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

21
21

Havelock
Havelock

3 years
3 years

Residence of W. A. Cowling, Havelock

15/3827

1 May 1915

Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	1 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Newton	Elizabeth Fitzsimmons
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas William Newton	Elizabeth Fitzsimons
	💍 1915/1954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Havelock
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. A. Cowling, Havelock
Folio	15/3827
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

5 June 1915

Robert Glover
Mary Lett

Robert Glover
Mary Lett
💍 1915/1953

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
31

Havelock

36 years
8 months

Residence of John Glover, Havelock

15/3826

5 June 1915

Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	5 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Glover	Mary Lett
	💍 1915/1953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Havelock
Length of Residence	36 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Glover, Havelock
Folio	15/3826
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Henry Heron Church of England

11 June 1915

Michael Henery Fitzsimons
Elsie Pask

Michael Henry Fitzsimons
Elsie Pask
💍 1915/11332

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

24
22

Havelock
Mahakipawa

18 months
5 years

Residence of Walter Pask, Mahakipawa

15/3825

18 June 1915

Tom Flower Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	11 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Henery Fitzsimons	Elsie Pask
BDM Match (98%)	Michael Henry Fitzsimons	Elsie Pask
	💍 1915/11332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Mahakipawa
Length of Residence	18 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter Pask, Mahakipawa
Folio	15/3825
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Tom Flower Methodist

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).