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 2265

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

26 July 1915

Walter Robert Hall
Olive Campbell Gibson

Walter Robert Hall
Olive Campbell Gibson
💍 1915/3865

Robert Noall
Isabella Campbell Gibson
💍 1915/5479

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoker
Domestic duties

20
18

Netherby
Hampstead

6 years
5 years

at the dwelling of H. Lamb Aitken Street Ashburton

6083

William Gibson father of Minor

26 July 1915

Rev Geo Miller

No	47
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robert Hall	Olive Campbell Gibson
	💍 1915/3865
BDM Match (60%)	Robert Noall	Isabella Campbell Gibson
	💍 1915/5479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoker	Domestic duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Netherby	Hampstead
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of H. Lamb Aitken Street Ashburton
Folio	6083
Consent	William Gibson father of Minor
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Miller

28 July 1915

John Linton
Helen Annie Katherine Moore

John Linton Helem
Annie Catherine Moore
💍 1915/3864

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

26
21

Hampstead
Ashburton

7 months
4 years

Church of England Ashburton

6082

28 July 1915

Rev J R Burgin

No	48
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Linton	Helen Annie Katherine Moore
BDM Match (69%)	John Linton Helem	Annie Catherine Moore
	💍 1915/3864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6082
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J R Burgin

9 August 1915

David Fitzgerald
Annie Teresa Nealon

David Fitzgerald
Annie Teresa Nealon
💍 1915/3828

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

31
30

Wakanui
Ashburton

31 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

6069

9 August 1915

Dean O'Donnell

No	49
Date of Notice	9 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Fitzgerald	Annie Teresa Nealon
	💍 1915/3828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Wakanui	Ashburton
Length of Residence	31 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	6069
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

11 August 1915

Joseph Bramwell
Leone Edith Maud Goss

Joseph Bramwell Cone
Edith Maud Goss
💍 1915/3832

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

25
21

Lowcliffe
Eiffelton

5 years
12 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6073

11 August 1915

W. W. White Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bramwell	Leone Edith Maud Goss
BDM Match (73%)	Joseph Bramwell Cone	Edith Maud Goss
	💍 1915/3832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Eiffelton
Length of Residence	5 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6073
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

11 August 1915

Edward Reeves
Veronica Raffey

Edward Reeves
Veronica Laffey
💍 1915/4234

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic duties

28
18

Ashburton
Linwood

20 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Christchurch

6458

John Raffey father of Minor

11 August 1915

Rev J Price

No	51
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Reeves	Veronica Raffey
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Reeves	Veronica Laffey
	💍 1915/4234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Linwood
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Christchurch
Folio	6458
Consent	John Raffey father of Minor
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J Price

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).