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 2517

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar G. A. Mansell

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

13/15

17 July 1915

Cecil William Moore
Ethel Reese

Cecil William Moore
Ethel Reese
💍 1915/3853

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
24

Styx
Southbridge

16 years
4 years

Residence of Joseph Reese, Southbridge

6096

17 July 1915

Rev. G. Grigg, Leeston

No	13/15
Date of Notice	17 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil William Moore	Ethel Reese
	💍 1915/3853
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	24
Dwelling Place	Styx	Southbridge
Length of Residence	16 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Reese, Southbridge
Folio	6096
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Grigg, Leeston

14/15

21 July 1915

Edmund Thomas Williams
Selina Snow

Edmund Thomas Williams
Selina Maw
💍 1915/3852

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
28

Ashburton
Doyleston

28 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

6095

21 July 1915

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	14/15
Date of Notice	21 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Thomas Williams	Selina Snow
BDM Match (86%)	Edmund Thomas Williams	Selina Maw
	💍 1915/3852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Doyleston
Length of Residence	28 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	6095
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

15/15

09 August 1915

William Crofton Lowery
Catherine Tod

William Crofton Lowery
Catherine Tod
💍 1915/3851

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
22

Killinchy
Doyleston

20 years
22 years

Residence of David Tod, Doyleston

6094

John Lowery, Father

09 August 1915

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	15/15
Date of Notice	09 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crofton Lowery	Catherine Tod
	💍 1915/3851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Doyleston
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Tod, Doyleston
Folio	6094
Consent	John Lowery, Father
Date of Certificate	09 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

16/15

18 September 1915

Edward Frank Kimber
Laura May Eddy

Edward Frank Kimber
Laura May Eddy
💍 1915/3849

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
21

Springston
Irwell

24 years
11 years

Church of England, Irwell

6092

18 September 1915

Rev. P. T. Jones, Leeston

No	16/15
Date of Notice	18 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Frank Kimber	Laura May Eddy
	💍 1915/3849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Springston	Irwell
Length of Residence	24 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Irwell
Folio	6092
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. T. Jones, Leeston

17/15

20 September 1915

Hubert Hanford Collins
Mary Gibson

Hubert Wanford Collins
Mary Gibson
💍 1915/3850

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

26
33

Akaroa
Irwell

8 years
1 month

Residence of Samuel Gibson, Irwell

6093

20 September 1915

Rev. J. S. Reid, Dunsandel

No	17/15
Date of Notice	20 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Hanford Collins	Mary Gibson
BDM Match (98%)	Hubert Wanford Collins	Mary Gibson
	💍 1915/3850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Akaroa	Irwell
Length of Residence	8 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Samuel Gibson, Irwell
Folio	6093
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid, Dunsandel

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).