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 2021

District of Ahaura Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Geo. C. Rickard

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 July 1915

John Stenhouse
Catherine Wilson Glen McDonald

John Stenhouse
Catherine Wilson Glen McDonald
💍 1915/3873

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

26
19

Blackball
Blackball

15 years
12 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Ahaura

5990

Alexander McDonald (Father)

10 July 1915

Geo. C. Rickard, Registrar of Marriages etc Ahaura

No	45
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stenhouse	Catherine Wilson Glen McDonald
	💍 1915/3873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	15 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Ahaura
Folio	5990
Consent	Alexander McDonald (Father)
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Geo. C. Rickard, Registrar of Marriages etc Ahaura

7 August 1915

James Kerr Buchanan
Mary Symons, m.n. Fullerton

James Kerr Buchanan
Mary Symons
💍 1915/3874

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic Duties

26
28

Blackball
Blackball

3 years
1 month

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages etc. at Ahaura

5991

7 August 1915

Geo. C. Rickard, Registrar of Marriages etc, Ahaura

No	46
Date of Notice	7 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kerr Buchanan	Mary Symons, m.n. Fullerton
BDM Match (70%)	James Kerr Buchanan	Mary Symons
	💍 1915/3874
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	3 years	1 month
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages etc. at Ahaura
Folio	5991
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Geo. C. Rickard, Registrar of Marriages etc, Ahaura

14 August 1915

Archibald Hunter
Florence Louisa Hogarth

Archibald Hunter
Florence Louisa Hogarth
💍 1915/3875

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

32
22

Ngahere
Ngahere

3 days
6 months

In the private home of Mrs. B. Hobbs Ngahere

5992

17 August 1915

W. G. H. Keagley, Presbyterian Home Missionary Blackball

No	47
Date of Notice	14 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Hunter	Florence Louisa Hogarth
	💍 1915/3875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Ngahere	Ngahere
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In the private home of Mrs. B. Hobbs Ngahere
Folio	5992
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1915
Officiating Minister	W. G. H. Keagley, Presbyterian Home Missionary Blackball

30 August 1915

Allan Pink
Ellen Maud Moore

Allan Pink
Ellen Maud Moore
💍 1915/3872

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

28
22

Blackball
Blackball

3 years
18 years

In the Presbyterian Church at Blackball

5989

30 August 1915

W. G. H. Keagley, Presbyterian Home Missionary Blackball

No	48
Date of Notice	30 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Pink	Ellen Maud Moore
	💍 1915/3872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Blackball
Folio	5989
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1915
Officiating Minister	W. G. H. Keagley, Presbyterian Home Missionary Blackball

10 September 1915

Samuel Herbert Henderson
Jessie Florence McKennan

Samuel Herbert Henderson
Jessie Florence McLennan
💍 1915/3876

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Domestic Duties

35
22

Ikamatua
Ikamatua

3 years
22 years

In the Presbyterian Church at Ikamatua

5993

10 September 1915

Rev. D. Tweedie, Presbyterian Minister Runanga

No	49
Date of Notice	10 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Herbert Henderson	Jessie Florence McKennan
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Herbert Henderson	Jessie Florence McLennan
	💍 1915/3876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Ikamatua	Ikamatua
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Ikamatua
Folio	5993
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Tweedie, Presbyterian Minister Runanga

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).