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 2433

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

761

17 September 1915

John Thomas Ryan
Gladys May Kerr

John Thomas Ryan
Gladys May Kerr
💍 1915/4351

Bachelor
Spinster

16
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch

6525

Thos. Ryan, Father; Robt. Patterson Kerr, Father

17 September 1915

Rev. J. Long, R.C.

No	761
Date of Notice	17 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Ryan	Gladys May Kerr
	💍 1915/4351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	16	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch
Folio	6525
Consent	Thos. Ryan, Father; Robt. Patterson Kerr, Father
Date of Certificate	17 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, R.C.

762

17 September 1915

Freeman Sefton
Mabel Fanny Evans

Freeman Sefton
Mabel Fanny Evans
💍 1915/4352

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
26

Linwood
Linwood

13 years
15 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

6526

17 September 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	762
Date of Notice	17 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Freeman Sefton	Mabel Fanny Evans
	💍 1915/4352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	13 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6526
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

763

18 September 1915

John Chick
Jessie Barber

John Chick
Jessie Barber
💍 1915/4311

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

32
23

Fendalton
Fendalton

Life
2 years

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

6527

18 September 1915

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	763
Date of Notice	18 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Chick	Jessie Barber
	💍 1915/4311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Fendalton
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	6527
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

764

20 September 1915

Leonard Hunter Armstrong
May Harding

Leonard Hunter Armstrong
May Harding
💍 1915/2559

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger
Tailoress

20
20

Sydenham
Sydenham

9 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

4665

Emily Bertha Armstrong, mother; Elizabeth Harding, mother

20 September 1915

Registrar

No	764
Date of Notice	20 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Hunter Armstrong	May Harding
	💍 1915/2559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger	Tailoress
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	4665
Consent	Emily Bertha Armstrong, mother; Elizabeth Harding, mother
Date of Certificate	20 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

765

20 September 1915

William John Heap
Ethel May Ward

William John Heap
Ethel May Ward
💍 1915/4322

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

26
22

Sydenham
Linwood

3 years
6 months

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

6528

20 September 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	765
Date of Notice	20 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Heap	Ethel May Ward
	💍 1915/4322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6528
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

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).