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 2389

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

541

1 July 1915

Claude Alfred Evans
Beryl Gladys Smith

Claude Alfred Evans
Beryl Gladys Smith
💍 1915/4207

Bachelor
Spinster

Cutter
Machinist

35
21

Linwood
Linwood

35 years
21 years

Residence of Mrs. Smith, 64 Hereford Street, Linwood

6381

1 July 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	541
Date of Notice	1 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Alfred Evans	Beryl Gladys Smith
	💍 1915/4207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cutter	Machinist
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	35 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Smith, 64 Hereford Street, Linwood
Folio	6381
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

542

1 July 1915

Charles Robinson
Edith Angus

Charles Robinson
Edith Angus
💍 1915/4208

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Burler

43
40

Halswell
Halswell

3 months
3 months

Trinity Congregational Church, Christchurch

6382

1 July 1915

Rev. H. Johnson, Congregational

No	542
Date of Notice	1 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robinson	Edith Angus
	💍 1915/4208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Burler
Age	43	40
Dwelling Place	Halswell	Halswell
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church, Christchurch
Folio	6382
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson, Congregational

543

2 July 1915

James Baxter O'Neill
Ethel May De Rungs

James Baxter O'Neill
Ethel May De Rung
💍 1915/4209

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

24
23

Riccarton
Upper Riccarton

2 months
Life

St. Peters Church, Upper Riccarton

6383

2 July 1915

Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

No	543
Date of Notice	2 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Baxter O'Neill	Ethel May De Rungs
BDM Match (97%)	James Baxter O'Neill	Ethel May De Rung
	💍 1915/4209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Upper Riccarton
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	6383
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

544

3 July 1915

Charles Francis Ealand
Geta Larsen

Charles Francis Ealand
Geta Larsen
💍 1915/4210

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter
Waitress

34
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
Life

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

6384

3 July 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	544
Date of Notice	3 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Francis Ealand	Geta Larsen
	💍 1915/4210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter	Waitress
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6384
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

545

3 July 1915

Francis David Geddes
Olive Frances Wells

Francis David Geddes
Olive Frances Wells
💍 1915/4187

Bachelor
Spinster

Prison Warder

27
25

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
3 days

St. Andrews Church, Christchurch

6385

3 July 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	545
Date of Notice	3 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis David Geddes	Olive Frances Wells
	💍 1915/4187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Prison Warder
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	6385
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, 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).