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 2563

District of Malvern Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar A. E. Gee

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

19 January 1915

Francis Whyte
Catherine McCausland

Francis Whyte
Catherine McCausland
💍 1915/8009

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
30

Halkett
Kimberley

25 years
30 years

Church of England Darfield

1835

19 January 1915

Rev. H. J. Allan, anglican minister

No	49
Date of Notice	19 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Whyte	Catherine McCausland
	💍 1915/8009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Halkett	Kimberley
Length of Residence	25 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Darfield
Folio	1835
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Allan, anglican minister

30 January 1915

William Pole
Marion Glen Aitken

William Pole
Marion Glen Aitken
💍 1915/9090

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers assistant
Domestic duties

23
21

Waddington
Sheffield

23 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Sheffield

1343

30 January 1915

Rev. J. Johnston, presbyterian minister

No	50
Date of Notice	30 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pole	Marion Glen Aitken
	💍 1915/9090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers assistant	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Waddington	Sheffield
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Sheffield
Folio	1343
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Johnston, presbyterian minister

10 February 1915

John Hanley
Lena Blanche Johansen

John Hanley
Lena Blanche Johansen
💍 1915/9091

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic duties

25
24

Darfield
Darfield

4 days
1 month

Catholic Church Darfield

1344

10 February 1915

Rev Father Fanning, catholic priest

No	51
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hanley	Lena Blanche Johansen
	💍 1915/9091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Darfield	Darfield
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Darfield
Folio	1344
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Fanning, catholic priest

23 March 1915

William Walter Mulholland
Daisy Eveline Campbell

William Walter Mulholland
Daisy Eveline Campbell
💍 1915/8006

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
25

Darfield
Darfield

18 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church Darfield

1832

23 March 1915

Rev. Dr. Brown, presbyterian minister

No	52
Date of Notice	23 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Mulholland	Daisy Eveline Campbell
	💍 1915/8006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Darfield	Darfield
Length of Residence	18 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Darfield
Folio	1832
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Brown, presbyterian minister

27 March 1915

Peter Whyte
Hannah Reveley

Peter Whyte
Hannah Reveley
💍 1915/7987

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
24

Halkett
Kimberley

30 years
24 years

St Andrews Church Darfield

1836

27 March 1915

Rev. H. J. Allan, anglican minister

No	53
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Whyte	Hannah Reveley
	💍 1915/7987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Halkett	Kimberley
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Darfield
Folio	1836
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Allan, anglican minister

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).