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 2255

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar William Winsbury White

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 February 1915

John Osborne
Sarah Jane Rollinson

John Osborne
Sarah Jane Rollinson
💍 1915/9062

Widower
Widow

Farmer
domestic duties

48
43

Willowby
Flemington

25 years
3 years

Methodist Church Willowby

1315

10 February 1915

Rev. W. J. Oxbrow

No	11
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Osborne	Sarah Jane Rollinson
	💍 1915/9062
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Willowby	Flemington
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Willowby
Folio	1315
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Oxbrow

13 February 1915

Edward Arthur Young
Janet Watson McKay

Edward Arthur Young
Janet Watson McKay
💍 1915/9065

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
domestic duties

18
18

Hinds
Ashburton

12 months
18 years

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

1318

William Young father of minor. Bessie McKay mother of minor.

13 February 1915

Rev. Geo Miller

No	12
Date of Notice	13 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Young	Janet Watson McKay
	💍 1915/9065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	domestic duties
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	1318
Consent	William Young father of minor. Bessie McKay mother of minor.
Date of Certificate	13 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

24 February 1915

Leslie Harvey Steel
Rachel Emma Stoddart

Leslie Harvey Steel
Rachel Emma Stoddart
💍 1915/9076

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
domestic duties

25
21

Auckland
Ashburton

3 days
7 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

1304

24 February 1915

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	13
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Harvey Steel	Rachel Emma Stoddart
	💍 1915/9076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	1304
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

24 February 1915

Wilfred Reginald Moore
Mary Clarissa Dove

Wilfred Reginald Moore
Mary Clarissa Dove
💍 1915/9081

Bachelor
Spinster

farm hand
domestic duties

25
29

Longbeach
Longbeach

2 years
29 years

Church of England Longbeach

1309

24 February 1915

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	14
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Reginald Moore	Mary Clarissa Dove
	💍 1915/9081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farm hand	domestic duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Longbeach
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Longbeach
Folio	1309
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

5 March 1915

Tom Henry Rush
Elizabeth Edna Harding

Tom Henry Lush
Elizabeth Edna Harding
💍 1915/4

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

31
37

Lowcliffe
Willowby

7 years
20 months

Methodist Church Willowby

1313

5 March 1915

Rev. W. J. Oxbrow

No	15
Date of Notice	5 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Henry Rush	Elizabeth Edna Harding
BDM Match (96%)	Tom Henry Lush	Elizabeth Edna Harding
	💍 1915/4
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	31	37
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Willowby
Length of Residence	7 years	20 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Willowby
Folio	1313
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Oxbrow

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).