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 2273

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

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

17 November 1915

Alfred Henry Dellow
Helen McMillan

Alfred Henry Dallow
Helen McMillan
💍 1915/7051

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

36
22

Mayfield
Tinwald

36 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church Tinwald

9538

17 November 1915

Rev. J. C. Mill

No	84
Date of Notice	17 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Dellow	Helen McMillan
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Henry Dallow	Helen McMillan
	💍 1915/7051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Tinwald
Length of Residence	36 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tinwald
Folio	9538
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Mill

23 November 1915

James Gordon Brown
Eleanor Rubina Wilson

James Gordon Burns
Eleanor Rubina Wilson
💍 1915/7054

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

34
22

Ashburton
Tinwald

3 days
22 years

Church of England Tinwald

9540

23 November 1915

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	85
Date of Notice	23 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gordon Brown	Eleanor Rubina Wilson
BDM Match (89%)	James Gordon Burns	Eleanor Rubina Wilson
	💍 1915/7054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Tinwald
Folio	9540
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

23 November 1915

William Wakelin
Gertrude Booker

William Wakelin
Gertrude Booker
💍 1915/7053

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
33

Winchmore
Ashburton

15 months
2 years

Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton

9539

23 November 1915

Rev. J. D. McArthur

No	86
Date of Notice	23 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wakelin	Gertrude Booker
	💍 1915/7053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Winchmore	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	9539
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. McArthur

7 December 1915

Benjamin Ede Aldridge
Janet Evelyn Briggans

Benjamin Ede Aldridge
Janet Evelyn Bringans
💍 1915/7050

Bachelor
Spinster

Corporal 8th South Canterbury
Domestic duties

27
22

Tinwald
Ashburton

27 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

9537

7 December 1915

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	87
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Ede Aldridge	Janet Evelyn Briggans
BDM Match (98%)	Benjamin Ede Aldridge	Janet Evelyn Bringans
	💍 1915/7050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Corporal 8th South Canterbury	Domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	9537
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

15 December 1915

Edward John Tucker
Elizabeth Lewis

Edward John Tucker
Elizabeth Lewis
💍 1915/7049

Orlando Fedele Gear
Elizabeth Lewis
💍 1915/6434

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw Miller
Domestic duties

34
23

Allenton
Ashburton

34 years
10 years

Baptist Church Ashburton

9536

15 December 1915

Rev. Frank Oldrieve

No	88
Date of Notice	15 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Tucker	Elizabeth Lewis
	💍 1915/7049
BDM Match (61%)	Orlando Fedele Gear	Elizabeth Lewis
	💍 1915/6434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw Miller	Domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Ashburton
Folio	9536
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank Oldrieve

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).