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 2527

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar A. Hern

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

966

1 November 1915

James Mann Rollett
Ina Myrtle Pierce

James Mann Collett
Ina Myrtle Pierce
💍 1915/7107

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach painter
Domestic

27
20

Geraldine
Geraldine

Life
Life

Church of England, Geraldine

9569

Leonard Pierce Father

1 November 1915

Rev S. Hamilton, Church of England, Geraldine

No	966
Date of Notice	1 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mann Rollett	Ina Myrtle Pierce
BDM Match (97%)	James Mann Collett	Ina Myrtle Pierce
	💍 1915/7107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach painter	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Geraldine
Folio	9569
Consent	Leonard Pierce Father
Date of Certificate	1 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Hamilton, Church of England, Geraldine

967

20 November 1915

John Saunders Smith
Mary Josephine Russell

John Saunders Smith
Mary Josephine Russell
💍 1915/7488

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Dressmaker

25
23

Winchester
Geraldine

6 months
Life

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

10047

20 November 1915

Rev Father Bowers, Roman Catholic Priest, Geraldine

No	967
Date of Notice	20 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Saunders Smith	Mary Josephine Russell
	💍 1915/7488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Winchester	Geraldine
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	10047
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Bowers, Roman Catholic Priest, Geraldine

968

22 November 1915

John Fitzgerald
Katherine Madeline Markham

John Fitzgerald
Catherine Madeline Markham
💍 1915/7480

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer
Domestic

37
33

Geraldine
Orari Bridge

4 days
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

10046

22 November 1915

Rev Father Bowers, Roman Catholic Priest, Geraldine

No	968
Date of Notice	22 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fitzgerald	Katherine Madeline Markham
BDM Match (98%)	John Fitzgerald	Catherine Madeline Markham
	💍 1915/7480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Domestic
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Orari Bridge
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	10046
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Bowers, Roman Catholic Priest, Geraldine

969

20 December 1915

Thomas Russell Ritchie
Florence Marjorie Templer

Thomas Russell Ritchie
Marjorie Florence Templin
💍 1915/7106

Bachelor
Spinster

accountant
certificated nurse

25
26

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 years
21 years

Church of England, Geraldine

9568

20 December 1915

Rev S. Hamilton, Church of England, Geraldine

No	969
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Russell Ritchie	Florence Marjorie Templer
BDM Match (68%)	Thomas Russell Ritchie	Marjorie Florence Templin
	💍 1915/7106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	accountant	certificated nurse
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Geraldine
Folio	9568
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Hamilton, Church of England, Geraldine

970

30 December 1915

Hugh McDonnell
Jessie Florence Smith

Hugh McDonnell
Jessie Florence Smith
💍 1916/4069

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
36

Woodbury
Woodbury

5 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

1220

30 December 1915

Rev Father Bowers, Roman Catholic Priest, Geraldine

No	970
Date of Notice	30 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McDonnell	Jessie Florence Smith
	💍 1916/4069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Woodbury
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	1220
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Bowers, Roman Catholic Priest, Geraldine

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).