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 2007

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar G. O. Brownson

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

6 July 1915

Alfred George
Emily Isabella Bulliff
formerly Coleman

Alfred George
Emily Isabella Bulliff
💍 1915/3888

Bachelor
Divorced

Blacksmith
Domestic

27
33

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
33 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

15/5982

6 July 1915

Mr. G. O. Trownson, Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George	Emily Isabella Bulliff formerly Coleman
	💍 1915/3888
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	15/5982
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. O. Trownson, Registrar

6 July 1915

Fred Aneas Bryant Vercoe
Florence Hawken

Fred Aneas Bryant Vercoe
Florence Hawken
💍 1915/3879

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic

22
27

Blenheim
Blenheim

22 years
5 months

Mr. Fred Vercoe's Residence, Beaver Road, Blenheim

15/5978

6 July 1915

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Aneas Bryant Vercoe	Florence Hawken
	💍 1915/3879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	22 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Mr. Fred Vercoe's Residence, Beaver Road, Blenheim
Folio	15/5978
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

10 July 1915

Angus Kennedy
Ellen Helena Charlotte Manson

Angus Kennedy
Ellen Helena Charlotte Manson
💍 1915/3887

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

36
37

Grovetown
Blenheim

36 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. T. Lummas, Alfred St., Blenheim

15/5981

10 July 1915

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Kennedy	Ellen Helena Charlotte Manson
	💍 1915/3887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Blenheim
Length of Residence	36 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. Lummas, Alfred St., Blenheim
Folio	15/5981
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

25 August 1915

Leonard Foster McDonald
Marion Stanley Waters

Leonard Foster McDonald
Marion Stanley Waters
💍 1915/3871

Bachelor
Spinster

Rifleman
Domestic

22
22

Blenheim
Ward

3 days
22 years

Church of England, Ward

15/5988

25 August 1915

Rev. F. Quintrell, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	25 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Foster McDonald	Marion Stanley Waters
	💍 1915/3871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rifleman	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Ward
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ward
Folio	15/5988
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Quintrell, Church of England

26 August 1915

Frank Strangman Davis-Goff
Mary Eleanor Soper

Frank Strangman Davis-Goff
Mary Eleanor Soper
💍 1915/3869

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
28

Grovetown
Rapaura

36 years
28 years

Church of England, Rapaura

15/5986

26 August 1915

Rev. Wm Wollstein, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	26 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Strangman Davis-Goff	Mary Eleanor Soper
	💍 1915/3869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Rapaura
Length of Residence	36 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rapaura
Folio	15/5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Wollstein, 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).