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 2453

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

854

20 October 1915

George Frederick Stras
Ethel May Evans

George Frederick Straw
Ethel May Evans
💍 1915/5774

Bachelor
Spinster

Stableman

22
21

Linwood
Christchurch

Life
Life

Baptist Church Oxford Terrace Christchurch

8096

20 October 1915

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	854
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Stras	Ethel May Evans
BDM Match (98%)	George Frederick Straw	Ethel May Evans
	💍 1915/5774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stableman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Oxford Terrace Christchurch
Folio	8096
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

855

21 October 1915

Lionel Frederick Wren
Nina Simpson

Lionel Frederick Uren
Nina Simpson
💍 1915/5775

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Clerk

26
23

St. Albans
Sydenham

2 years
3 years

Methodist Church Sydenham

8097

21 October 1915

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	855
Date of Notice	21 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Frederick Wren	Nina Simpson
BDM Match (98%)	Lionel Frederick Uren	Nina Simpson
	💍 1915/5775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	8097
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

856

21 October 1915

Albert Edward Doell
Emily Elizabeth Heath

Albert Edward Doell
Emily Elizabeth Heath
💍 1915/6078

Bachelor
Spinster

Millwright
Clerk

29
31

Linwood
Dunedin

16 years
16 months

All Saints' Church Dunedin

8375

21 October 1915

Rev. A. R. Fitchett, Anglican

No	856
Date of Notice	21 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Doell	Emily Elizabeth Heath
	💍 1915/6078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millwright	Clerk
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	16 months
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church Dunedin
Folio	8375
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Fitchett, Anglican

857

21 October 1915

Edward Thomas Heatley
Mabel Charlotte Wendelborn

Edward Thomas Heatley
Mabel Charlotte Wendelborn
💍 1915/5669

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

8012

21 October 1915

Registrar

No	857
Date of Notice	21 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Heatley	Mabel Charlotte Wendelborn
	💍 1915/5669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	8012
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

858

22 October 1915

Thomas Rankin Strang
Daisy Hannah Elerig

Thomas Rankin Strang
Daisy Hannah Elerig
💍 1915/5776

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Clerk

31
30

Invercargill
Christchurch

27 years
30 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

8098

22 October 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	858
Date of Notice	22 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Rankin Strang	Daisy Hannah Elerig
	💍 1915/5776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Clerk
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	8098
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, 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).