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 2301

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

111

9 February 1915

James Meffen Barton
Elizabeth Rice

James Miffen Barton
Elizabeth Rice
💍 1915/9235

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dentist's Assistant

36
31

St. Albans
St. Albans

10 days
Life

St. Paul's Manse Christchurch

1591

9 February 1915

Rev. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	111
Date of Notice	9 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Meffen Barton	Elizabeth Rice
BDM Match (97%)	James Miffen Barton	Elizabeth Rice
	💍 1915/9235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dentist's Assistant
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	10 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Manse Christchurch
Folio	1591
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paterson, Presbyterian

112

10 February 1915

Thomas Dennis Tobin
Mary Ann Hall

Thomas Dennis Tobin
Mary Ann Hall
💍 1915/11644

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

49
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Knox Church Christchurch

1699

10 February 1915

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	112
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dennis Tobin	Mary Ann Hall
	💍 1915/11644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	49	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church Christchurch
Folio	1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

113

10 February 1915

Percy George Barnaball
Elizabeth Kathleen Shannon

Percy George Barraball
Elizabeth Kathleen Shannon
💍 1915/7863

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Worker

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

1560

10 February 1915

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	113
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy George Barnaball	Elizabeth Kathleen Shannon
BDM Match (98%)	Percy George Barraball	Elizabeth Kathleen Shannon
	💍 1915/7863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Worker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	1560
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

114

10 February 1915

John Samuel Jenkins
Annie Wood commonly known as Johnston

John Samuel Jenkins
Annie Johnston
💍 1915/7909

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Tailoress

31
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

1607

10 February 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	114
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Jenkins	Annie Wood commonly known as Johnston
BDM Match (69%)	John Samuel Jenkins	Annie Johnston
	💍 1915/7909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Tailoress
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	1607
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

115

10 February 1915

Albert Frederick Toomer
Gertrude Louisa Dillon

Albert Frederick Toomer
Gertrude Louisa Dillon
💍 1915/400

Widower 18.10.1913
Spinster

Boot Manufacturer

58
38

Christchurch
Sydenham

45 years
36 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

184

10 February 1915

Registrar

No	115
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frederick Toomer	Gertrude Louisa Dillon
	💍 1915/400
Condition	Widower 18.10.1913	Spinster
Profession	Boot Manufacturer
Age	58	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	45 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	184
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).