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 2289

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1915

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

20 January 1915

James Joseph McSaloon
Mary Ann O'Brien

James Joseph McAloon
Mary Ann O'Brien
💍 1915/9145

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway clerk

25
25

Christchurch
Waimate

2 weeks
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Waimate

1399

20 January 1915

Rev. Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic

No	51
Date of Notice	20 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph McSaloon	Mary Ann O'Brien
BDM Match (95%)	James Joseph McAloon	Mary Ann O'Brien
	💍 1915/9145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Waimate
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waimate
Folio	1399
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic

21 January 1915

Victor William Colville
Eleanor Roche

Victor William Colville
Eleanor Roche
💍 1915/9396

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Nurse

21
24

Christchurch
Linwood

5 years
8 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

1728

21 January 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	52
Date of Notice	21 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor William Colville	Eleanor Roche
	💍 1915/9396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Nurse
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1728
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

21 January 1915

Herbert Prescott
Pauline Willo

Herbert Prescott
Pauline Wills
💍 1915/7605

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

34
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

171

21 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	21 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Prescott	Pauline Willo
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Prescott	Pauline Wills
	💍 1915/7605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	171
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

21 January 1915

William Roger Jones
Gertrude May Chinnery

William Roger Jones
Gertrude May Chinnery
💍 1915/9274

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter

42
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
3 years

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

1632

21 January 1915

Rev. J. B. Forde Carlisle, Baptist

No	54
Date of Notice	21 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Roger Jones	Gertrude May Chinnery
	💍 1915/9274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	1632
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Forde Carlisle, Baptist

21 January 1915

Alexander Robert McDowell
Kate Maud Mary Kincaid

Alexander Robert McDowell
Kate Maud Mary Kincaid
💍 1915/7911

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
clerk

36
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
15 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

1609

21 January 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	55
Date of Notice	21 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert McDowell	Kate Maud Mary Kincaid
	💍 1915/7911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	clerk
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1609
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

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).