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 2129

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Samuel Tyson

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

24 May 1915

William John Moynihan
Kathleen Marjorie Bolton

William John Moynihan
Kathleen Marjorie Bolton
💍 1915/2012

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Surveyor
Schoolmistress

28
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 Days
23 Years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

15/3888

25 May 1915

Rev. W. S. Lucas

No	39
Date of Notice	24 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Moynihan	Kathleen Marjorie Bolton
	💍 1915/2012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Surveyor	Schoolmistress
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Days	23 Years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	15/3888
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Lucas

28 May 1915

Maurice Gordon Hurst
Elsie Seldon

Maurice Gordon Hurst
Elsie Seldon
💍 1915/2016

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

28
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 Days
25 Years

Saint Johns Church, Nelson

15/3892

28 May 1915

Rev. Wm Baumber

No	40
Date of Notice	28 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Gordon Hurst	Elsie Seldon
	💍 1915/2016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Days	25 Years
Marriage Place	Saint Johns Church, Nelson
Folio	15/3892
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Baumber

29 May 1915

George Harold Bennett
Alice Henrietta Day

George Harold Bennett
Alice Henrietta Day
💍 1915/2021

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Nelson
Nelson

23 years
20 years

Residence of George Bennett, Brook Street, Nelson

15/3897

Annie Elizabeth Scaif (mother)

29 May 1915

Rev. W. E. Lambert

No	41
Date of Notice	29 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harold Bennett	Alice Henrietta Day
	💍 1915/2021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Bennett, Brook Street, Nelson
Folio	15/3897
Consent	Annie Elizabeth Scaif (mother)
Date of Certificate	29 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert

31 May 1915

Walter Edgar Cronin
Jean Muir Brown

Walter Edgar Cronin
Jean Muir Brown
💍 1915/2018

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

27
19

Nelson
Nelson

2 Years
19 Years

Residence of Arthur Edwards, Cambria Street, Nelson

15/3894

George Brown ("Guardian")

31 May 1915

Rev. Wm Baumber

No	42
Date of Notice	31 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edgar Cronin	Jean Muir Brown
	💍 1915/2018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 Years	19 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Arthur Edwards, Cambria Street, Nelson
Folio	15/3894
Consent	George Brown ("Guardian")
Date of Certificate	31 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Baumber

16 June 1915

Henry John Litchfield Young
Ethel Virtue Brooker

Henry John Litchfield Young
Ethel Virtue Brooker
💍 1915/2023

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

35
25

Nelson
Nelson

35 Years
25 Year

Residence of George Brooker, Bridge Street, Nelson

15/3898

16 June 1915

Rev. Wm Baumber

No	43
Date of Notice	16 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Litchfield Young	Ethel Virtue Brooker
	💍 1915/2023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	35 Years	25 Year
Marriage Place	Residence of George Brooker, Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	15/3898
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Baumber

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).