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 2203

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar G. Thompson

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

8 January 1915

Albert Frederick Bergmann
Marion Glass

Albert Frederick Bergmann
Marion Glass
💍 1915/9047

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

35
33

Kanieri
Kokatahi

35 years
33 years

at private house of Mrs Bergmann, Kanieri

1298

8 January 1915

Robert Taylor, Presbyterian Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frederick Bergmann	Marion Glass
	💍 1915/9047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Kanieri	Kokatahi
Length of Residence	35 years	33 years
Marriage Place	at private house of Mrs Bergmann, Kanieri
Folio	1298
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Robert Taylor, Presbyterian Minister

11 January 1915

Graham Roy Barrett
Jane Louisa Simpson

Graham Roy Barnett
Jane Louisa Empson
💍 1915/9048

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Domestic

39
33

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 years

Church of England, Hokitika

1299

11 January 1915

A. Hore, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	11 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Roy Barrett	Jane Louisa Simpson
BDM Match (92%)	Graham Roy Barnett	Jane Louisa Empson
	💍 1915/9048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Domestic
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hokitika
Folio	1299
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1915
Officiating Minister	A. Hore, Church of England

11 January 1915

Thomas Henry Kenning
Ellen Theresa Maher

Thomas Henry Kenning
Ellen Theresa Maher
💍 1915/9045

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
20

Hokitika
Hokitika

4 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika

1296

Patrick Maher, father

11 January 1915

Celestin Lacroix, Roman Catholic Priest

No	3
Date of Notice	11 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Kenning	Ellen Theresa Maher
	💍 1915/9045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	1296
Consent	Patrick Maher, father
Date of Certificate	11 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Celestin Lacroix, Roman Catholic Priest

9 February 1915

James Barclay Douglas
Lydia Shannon

James Barclay Douglas
Lydia Shannon
💍 1915/9046

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Piano

36
34

Arahura
Arahura

36 years

Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

1297

9 February 1915

Robt Taylor, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	9 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barclay Douglas	Lydia Shannon
	💍 1915/9046
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Piano
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Arahura	Arahura
Length of Residence	36 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hokitika
Folio	1297
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Robt Taylor, Presbyterian Minister

15 February 1915

John Joseph Shand
Edith Emily Fook

John Joseph Shand
Edith Emily Foote
💍 1915/9044

Bachelor
Spinster

Asylum attendant
Tailoress

27
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

2 years
21 years

Church of England, Hokitika

1295

15 February 1915

A. Hore, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Shand	Edith Emily Fook
BDM Match (94%)	John Joseph Shand	Edith Emily Foote
	💍 1915/9044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Asylum attendant	Tailoress
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hokitika
Folio	1295
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1915
Officiating Minister	A. Hore, 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).