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 2291

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

25 January 1915

Thomas Stocker
Elsie Mary Harrison

Thomas Stocker
Elsie Mary Harrison
💍 1915/9275

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder
Dressmaker

34
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 days
20 years

St Saviours Church, Sydenham

1633

25 January 1915

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	61
Date of Notice	25 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stocker	Elsie Mary Harrison
	💍 1915/9275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder	Dressmaker
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church, Sydenham
Folio	1633
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

26 January 1915

Henry Lawson Brown
Rhoda Edith Laing

Henry Lawson Brown
Rhoda Edith Laing
💍 1915/7921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Papanui
Papanui

3 days
24 years

St Pauls Church, Papanui

1717

26 January 1915

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	62
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lawson Brown	Rhoda Edith Laing
	💍 1915/7921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Papanui
Folio	1717
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

26 January 1915

David Herbert Aiken
Bridget Josephine Griffin

David Herbert Aiken
Bridget Josephine Griffin
💍 1915/958

Widower 18.12.1910
Spinster

Carter

33
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
5 years

St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch

3027

26 January 1915

Rev. Dean J. Hills, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Herbert Aiken	Bridget Josephine Griffin
	💍 1915/958
Condition	Widower 18.12.1910	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch
Folio	3027
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean J. Hills, Roman Catholic

26 January 1915

Daniel O'Connell
Ellen Ann Chisnall

Daniel O'Connell
Ellen Ann Chisnall
💍 1915/7608

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 21.1.1915

Labourer

32
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
12 years

Registrars Office, Christchurch

174

26 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	64
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel O'Connell	Ellen Ann Chisnall
	💍 1915/7608
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 21.1.1915
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Christchurch
Folio	174
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

27 January 1915

Alexander Morgan Fraser
Ida Connock Mould

Alexander Morgan Fraser
Ida Connock Mould
💍 1915/7926

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

27
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 weeks

House of Mrs Anderson, 249 Gloucester St, Christchurch

1722

27 January 1915

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Morgan Fraser	Ida Connock Mould
	💍 1915/7926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	27	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Anderson, 249 Gloucester St, Christchurch
Folio	1722
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

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).