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 2147

District of Reefton Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar G. W. Morris

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

1 October 1915

Robert Hudson McGill
Isabella Alma Seury

Robert Hudson McGill
Isabella Alma Levy
💍 1915/11531

Bachelor
Spinster

sawmiller
domestic

21
17

Reefton
Reefton

14 days
6 weeks

Registrar's Office Reefton

9476

Isabella Seury, mother

1 October 1915

G. W. Morris Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	1 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hudson McGill	Isabella Alma Seury
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Hudson McGill	Isabella Alma Levy
	💍 1915/11531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	sawmiller	domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	14 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Reefton
Folio	9476
Consent	Isabella Seury, mother
Date of Certificate	1 October 1915
Officiating Minister	G. W. Morris Registrar

4 October 1915

Richard Allen Thomas
Ellen Blackadder

Richard Allen Thomas
Ellen Blackadder
💍 1915/7024

Bachelor
Spinster

enginedriver
tailoress

26
24

Waiuta
Reefton

5 years
24 years

Anglican Church Reefton

9478

4 October 1915

Rev. E. A. Parker

No	19
Date of Notice	4 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Allen Thomas	Ellen Blackadder
	💍 1915/7024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	enginedriver	tailoress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Waiuta	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Reefton
Folio	9478
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker

8 October 1915

Albert Henry Guy
Elizabeth Merryn Jubilee Ladysmith Lewis

Albert Henry Guy
Elizabeth Mervin Jubilee Ladysmith Lewis
💍 1915/7023

Bachelor
Spinster

batteryhand
domestic

21
16

Black's Point
Black's Point

3 days
4 months

Residence of T. M. Lewis Black's Point

9477

Thomas Michael Lewis, father

8 October 1915

Rev. E. A. Parker

No	20
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Guy	Elizabeth Merryn Jubilee Ladysmith Lewis
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Henry Guy	Elizabeth Mervin Jubilee Ladysmith Lewis
	💍 1915/7023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	batteryhand	domestic
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Black's Point	Black's Point
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of T. M. Lewis Black's Point
Folio	9477
Consent	Thomas Michael Lewis, father
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker

16 October 1915

Jesse Bartlett
Jane Alice Banks

Jesse Bartlett
Jane Alice Banks
💍 1915/7025

Bachelor
Spinster

miner
dressmaker

30
25

Globe Hill
Reefton

5 years
25 years

Residence of Mrs. J. Banks Reefton

9479

16 October 1915

Rev. dr. McCallum

No	21
Date of Notice	16 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Bartlett	Jane Alice Banks
	💍 1915/7025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	miner	dressmaker
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Globe Hill	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. J. Banks Reefton
Folio	9479
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. dr. McCallum

18 October 1915

Reginald John Josiah Avery
Jessie Victoria Cook

Reginald John Josiah Avery
Jessie Victoria Cook
💍 1915/7020

Bachelor
Spinster

blacksmith
domestic

21
18

Progress Junction
Progress Junction

11 years
18 years

Methodist Church Reefton

9473

Alfred Oscar Cook, father

18 October 1915

Rev. Chas. Penney

No	22
Date of Notice	18 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald John Josiah Avery	Jessie Victoria Cook
	💍 1915/7020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	blacksmith	domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Progress Junction	Progress Junction
Length of Residence	11 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Reefton
Folio	9473
Consent	Alfred Oscar Cook, father
Date of Certificate	18 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Penney

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).