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 2423

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

710

1 September 1915

Walter George Taylor
Margaret Rose Carmichael Watson

Walter George Taylor
Margaret Rose Carmichael Watson
💍 1915/4294

Bachelor
Spinster

Newsagent

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
10 weeks

Church of Christ Moorhouse Avenue Christchurch

6493

1 September 1915

Mr. R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

No	710
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Taylor	Margaret Rose Carmichael Watson
	💍 1915/4294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newsagent
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Moorhouse Avenue Christchurch
Folio	6493
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

712

2 September 1915

Daniel Patrick Foley
Louisa Maria Smith

Daniel Patrick Foley
Louisa Maria Smith
💍 1915/4295

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
36

Linwood
Woolston

3 days
3 months

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

6494

1 September 1915

Rev. F. W. Price, R.C.

No	712
Date of Notice	2 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Patrick Foley	Louisa Maria Smith
	💍 1915/4295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Woolston
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	6494
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Price, R.C.

713

2 September 1915

Alfred Henry Good
Mary Lilian Rosina Grenfell

Alfred Henry Good
Mary Lilian Rosina Grenfell
💍 1915/4296

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram conductor

30
23

Beckenham
Sydenham

5 years
Life

St. David's Presbyterian Church Sydenham

6495

2 September 1915

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	713
Date of Notice	2 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Good	Mary Lilian Rosina Grenfell
	💍 1915/4296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram conductor
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Beckenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. David's Presbyterian Church Sydenham
Folio	6495
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

714

2 September 1915

Alfred Large
Winifred Lloyd

Alfred Large
Winifred Lloyd
💍 1915/4298

Widower 4.1.1914
Divorced. Decree Absolute dated 1-9.1905

Storeman

39
37

Sydenham
Sydenham

36 years
12 years

Methodist Church Durham St Christchurch

6496

2 September 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	714
Date of Notice	2 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Large	Winifred Lloyd
	💍 1915/4298
Condition	Widower 4.1.1914	Divorced. Decree Absolute dated 1-9.1905
Profession	Storeman
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	36 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St Christchurch
Folio	6496
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

715

2 September 1915

Cornelius McGowan
Barbara Carlina McCormack

Cornelius McGowan
Barbara Carlina McCormick
💍 1915/2564

Bachelor
Widow 6.9.1902

Horsetrainer
Dressmaker

41
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
6 days

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4652

2 September 1915

Registrar

No	715
Date of Notice	2 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius McGowan	Barbara Carlina McCormack
BDM Match (98%)	Cornelius McGowan	Barbara Carlina McCormick
	💍 1915/2564
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6.9.1902
Profession	Horsetrainer	Dressmaker
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4652
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 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).