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 2537

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar William Nelson Poole

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

10 February 1915

Frank James Blay
Ruth Maud Mary Clark

Frank James Blay
Ruth Maud May Clark
💍 1915/9083

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
24

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

8 years
24 years

St Paul's Church, Flaxton

1336

10 February 1915

C. A. Fraer

No	1
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank James Blay	Ruth Maud Mary Clark
BDM Match (98%)	Frank James Blay	Ruth Maud May Clark
	💍 1915/9083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	8 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Flaxton
Folio	1336
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	C. A. Fraer

15 February 1915

Ronald Macdonald
Catherine Mabel Annie Scott

Ronald Macdonald
Catherine Mabel Annie Scott
💍 1915/9102

Widower
Spinster

Tweed Manufacturer
Home Duties

39
21

Kaiapoi
Christchurch

4 days
2 weeks

Anglican Church, Kaiapoi

1331

15 February 1915

J. Holland

No	2
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Macdonald	Catherine Mabel Annie Scott
	💍 1915/9102
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tweed Manufacturer	Home Duties
Age	39	21
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	1331
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1915
Officiating Minister	J. Holland

24 February 1915

Wiremu Rehu
Kirimihimi Te Ataohu

Woremu Rehu
Kiri Himiona Teataohu
💍 1915/9106

Bachelor (previously married Maori custom)
Spinster (previously married Maori custom)

Engine Driver
Domestic

40
40

Tuahiwi
Tuahiwi

14 years
40 years

St Stephen's Church, Tuahiwi

1335

24 February 1915

C. A. Fraer

No	3
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wiremu Rehu	Kirimihimi Te Ataohu
BDM Match (76%)	Woremu Rehu	Kiri Himiona Teataohu
	💍 1915/9106
Condition	Bachelor (previously married Maori custom)	Spinster (previously married Maori custom)
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Tuahiwi	Tuahiwi
Length of Residence	14 years	40 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Tuahiwi
Folio	1335
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	C. A. Fraer

12 March 1915

Thomas Hassall
Daisy Louisa Wilson

Thomas Hassall
Daisy Louisa Wilson
💍 1915/9105

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

41
22

Clarkville
Clarkville

41 years
22 years

The Office of the Registrar Kaiapoi

1334

12 March 1915

Registrar Births Deaths Marriages Kaiapoi

No	4
Date of Notice	12 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hassall	Daisy Louisa Wilson
	💍 1915/9105
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Clarkville	Clarkville
Length of Residence	41 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar Kaiapoi
Folio	1334
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar Births Deaths Marriages Kaiapoi

29 March 1915

Francis William Rule
Ethel Rachel Ayers

Francis William Rule
Ethel Rachel Ayers
💍 1915/12074

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Household

33
24

Kaiapoi
Woodend

20 years
24 years

Methodist Church Woodend

1333

29 March 1915

Rev J. R. Clark

No	5
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Rule	Ethel Rachel Ayers
	💍 1915/12074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Household
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Woodend
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Woodend
Folio	1333
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Clark

29 March 1915

Alfred Thomas Blackwell
Alice Amelia Ellen Bisphan

Alfred Thomas Blackwell
Alice Amelia Ellen Bisphan
💍 1915/12073

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
31

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

4 days
20 years

Methodist Church Kaiapoi

1332

29 March 1915

P. W. Fairclough

No	6
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Blackwell	Alice Amelia Ellen Bisphan
	💍 1915/12073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Kaiapoi
Folio	1332
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

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).