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 1999

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar H Blackman

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

10 March 1915

John Wright
Violet Edna Parker

John Wright
Violet Edna Parker
💍 1915/9678

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
27

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 years
27 years

Wesleyan Church, Blenheim

15/2461

10 March 1915

Rev. B. J. Rothwell, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	10 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wright	Violet Edna Parker
	💍 1915/9678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Blenheim
Folio	15/2461
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. Rothwell, Methodist

18 March 1915

William John Horn
Ethel Merrifield

William John Horn
Ethel Merrifield
💍 1915/7845

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

30
19

Seddon
Blind River

11 years
4 years

Mr James Merrifield's Dwelling, Blind River

15/1217

James Merrifield Father

18 March 1915

Rev. F. Quintrell, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	18 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Horn	Ethel Merrifield
	💍 1915/7845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Blind River
Length of Residence	11 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Mr James Merrifield's Dwelling, Blind River
Folio	15/1217
Consent	James Merrifield Father
Date of Certificate	18 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Quintrell, Church of England

22 March 1915

Charles Augustus Hatsell
Mabel Edith Lankow

Charles Augustus Hatsell
Mabel Edith Lankow
💍 1915/1976

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
24

Seddon
Waikakaho

13 years
24 years

Mr. H. Lankow's Dwelling house, Waikakaho

15/3849

22 March 1915

Rev. Wm Wollstein, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	22 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Augustus Hatsell	Mabel Edith Lankow
	💍 1915/1976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Waikakaho
Length of Residence	13 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Mr. H. Lankow's Dwelling house, Waikakaho
Folio	15/3849
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Wollstein, Church of England

23 March 1915

John Joseph McMahon
Mary Theresa Walls

John Joseph McMahon
Mary Theresa Walls
💍 1915/1983

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

27
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

5 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

15/3834

23 March 1915

Rev. P. Fay, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	23 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph McMahon	Mary Theresa Walls
	💍 1915/1983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	15/3834
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay, Church of England

30 March 1915

John Harry Hadfield
Amy Fryer

John Harry Hadfield
Amy Fryer
💍 1915/9489

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman
Domestic

27
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

20 years
26 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

15/2095

30 March 1915

Ven Archdeacon T S Grace, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	30 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harry Hadfield	Amy Fryer
	💍 1915/9489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	15/2095
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 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).