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 2197

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar E. W. Cave

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

16 October 1915

Stanley Francis White
Gladys Elsie McAndrew

Stanley Francis White
Gladys Elsie Macandrew
💍 1915/7502

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent
Domestic

26
24

Greymouth
Hokitika

6 weeks
24 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

9976

16 October 1915

Rev. J. A. Rogers

No	50
Date of Notice	16 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Francis White	Gladys Elsie McAndrew
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Francis White	Gladys Elsie Macandrew
	💍 1915/7502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Hokitika
Length of Residence	6 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	9976
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers

20 October 1915

George Arthur Cannell
Marion Jane Young

George Arthur Cannell
Marion Jane Young
💍 1915/7503

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Tailoress

35
30

Runanga
Runanga

7 years
29 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

9977

26 October 1915

Rev. J. A. Rogers

No	51
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Cannell	Marion Jane Young
	💍 1915/7503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Tailoress
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	7 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	9977
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers

27 October 1915

John Joseph Malone
Mary Alice Power

John Joseph Malone
Mary Alice Power
💍 1915/14709

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
House-keeper

37
32

Greymouth
Coast Road, Greymouth

5 years
Life

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

9511

27 October 1915

Rev. D. P. Carew

No	52
Date of Notice	27 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Malone	Mary Alice Power
	💍 1915/14709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	House-keeper
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Coast Road, Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	9511
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. P. Carew

30 October 1915

Charles Wasley
Kathleen Stewart

Charles Wasly
Kathleen Stewart
💍 1915/14712

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic

26
22

Greymouth
Coal Creek

3 months
20 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

9496

30 October 1915

E. W. Cave, Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	30 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Wasley	Kathleen Stewart
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Wasly	Kathleen Stewart
	💍 1915/14712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Coal Creek
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	9496
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1915
Officiating Minister	E. W. Cave, Registrar

1 November 1915

John Law Robertson
Catherine Sherret Robertson

John Law Robertson
Catherine Sherret Robertson
💍 1915/14706

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

25
21

Runanga
Greymouth

4 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Runanga

9508

1 November 1915

Rev. Thomas Tweedie

No	54
Date of Notice	1 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Law Robertson	Catherine Sherret Robertson
	💍 1915/14706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Runanga
Folio	9508
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Tweedie

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).