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 2271

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar W.W. 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

2 November 1915

Walter Reginald Hammond
Marion Ormiston Walker

Walter Reginald Hammond
Marion Ormiston Walker
💍 1915/7090

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

31
29

Allenton
Allenton

2 years
14 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

9545

2 November 1915

Rev. Geo Miller

No	74
Date of Notice	2 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Reginald Hammond	Marion Ormiston Walker
	💍 1915/7090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	9545
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

2 November 1915

William Edward Bishop
Florence Mabel Colville

William Edward Bishop
Florence Mabel Colville
💍 1915/7108

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Tinwald
Tinwald

24 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

9547

2 November 1915

W.W. White Registrar

No	75
Date of Notice	2 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Bishop	Florence Mabel Colville
	💍 1915/7108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	9547
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1915
Officiating Minister	W.W. White Registrar

2 November 1915

Frederick George Harris Morris Britten Burgess
Rhoda Ellen Wills

Frederick George Harris Morris Britten Burgess
Rhoda Ellen Wills
💍 1915/5765

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic duties

35
22

Ashburton
Sydenham

5 years
3 days

Methodist Church Sydenham

8110

2 November 1915

Rev. A.N. Scotter

No	76
Date of Notice	2 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Harris Morris Britten Burgess	Rhoda Ellen Wills
	💍 1915/5765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic duties
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	8110
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.N. Scotter

3 November 1915

Thomas Arthur Dowell
Sarah Jane Haar

Thomas Arthur Powell
Sarah Jane Haar
💍 1915/7101

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

34
24

Fairton
Dorie

12 years
3 days

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

9546

3 November 1915

Rev. Geo Miller

No	77
Date of Notice	3 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Dowell	Sarah Jane Haar
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Arthur Powell	Sarah Jane Haar
	💍 1915/7101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Fairton	Dorie
Length of Residence	12 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	9546
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

8 November 1915

John McGee
Mary Stodd

John McGee
Mary Rodd
💍 1915/5651

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

31
27

Winslow
Winslow

30 years
27 years

Church of England Ashburton

7920

8 November 1915

Rev. J.R. Burgin

No	78
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGee	Mary Stodd
BDM Match (90%)	John McGee	Mary Rodd
	💍 1915/5651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Winslow
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	7920
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.R. Burgin

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).