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 2357

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

389

17 May 1915

Laurence Paletino Monaghan (Commonly Known as Laurence Galetino Hahn)
Lillian Brenda McLaughlan

Laurence Galatius Moraghan
Lillian Brenda McLaughlan
💍 1915/2811

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Tailoress

22
19

Christchurch
New Brighton

Life
6 months

St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch

4918

No one in New Zealand authorized by law to give consent.

01 June 1915

Rev. R. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	389
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Paletino Monaghan (Commonly Known as Laurence Galetino Hahn)	Lillian Brenda McLaughlan
BDM Match (65%)	Laurence Galatius Moraghan	Lillian Brenda McLaughlan
	💍 1915/2811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Tailoress
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	Life	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch
Folio	4918
Consent	No one in New Zealand authorized by law to give consent.
Date of Certificate	01 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hoare, Roman Catholic

390

17 May 1915

Albert Benson Gibson
Eva Lilian Frew

Albert Benson Gibson
Eva Lilian Frew
💍 1915/9322

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachpainter

26
22

Waltham
Opawa

7 months
18 months

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2504

17 May 1915

Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

No	390
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Benson Gibson	Eva Lilian Frew
	💍 1915/9322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachpainter
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Waltham	Opawa
Length of Residence	7 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2504
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

391

17 May 1915

John Roger Tryon
Ellen Twomey

John Roger Tryon
Ellen Twomey
💍 1915/9323

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

22
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
22 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2505

17 May 1915

Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

No	391
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roger Tryon	Ellen Twomey
	💍 1915/9323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	22	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2505
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

392

17 May 1915

George Ross Richards
Ellen Downs

George Ross Richards
Ellen Downs
💍 1915/13982

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

32
34

Christchurch
St. Albans

3 weeks
1 year

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

2554

17 May 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	392
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ross Richards	Ellen Downs
	💍 1915/13982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	2554
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

393

17 May 1915

Henry Ward Payn
Sophia Madeline Carroll

Henry Ward Payn
Sophia Madeleine Carroll
💍 1915/9324

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 months
4 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St. Christchurch

2506

17 May 1915

Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

No	393
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ward Payn	Sophia Madeline Carroll
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Ward Payn	Sophia Madeleine Carroll
	💍 1915/9324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St. Christchurch
Folio	2506
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

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).