Intentions to Marry, 1917 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840473, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917e contains pages 1665-2196, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 2001

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1917

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

309

9 June 1917

Clifford Ormond Butler
Dorothy Ida Mills

Clifford Ormond Butler
Dorothy Ida Mills
💍 1917/2952

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

19 years
3 days

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2180

9 June 1917

Registrar

No	309
Date of Notice	9 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Ormond Butler	Dorothy Ida Mills
	💍 1917/2952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2180
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

310

9 June 1917

Peter McGrath
Norah Power

Peter McGrath
Norah Gower
💍 1917/2953

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder

28
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 weeks

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2181

9 June 1917

Rev. J. A. Kennedy R.C.

No	310
Date of Notice	9 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McGrath	Norah Power
BDM Match (95%)	Peter McGrath	Norah Gower
	💍 1917/2953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2181
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy R.C.

311

9 June 1917

William Clark
Catherine Rogers

William Clark
Catherine Rogers
💍 1917/2954

William Parkinson
Catherine Cecilia Rogers
💍 1917/4855

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

33
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
6 years

Dwelling of Mr. W. H. Rogers 131 Chester St Christchurch

2182

9 June 1917

Rev. H. Johnson Congregational

No	311
Date of Notice	9 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clark	Catherine Rogers
	💍 1917/2954
BDM Match (63%)	William Parkinson	Catherine Cecilia Rogers
	💍 1917/4855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. H. Rogers 131 Chester St Christchurch
Folio	2182
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson Congregational

312

11 June 1917

Captain William Papperell
Maude Elizabeth Parkinson-Hatton

Captain William Pepperell
Maude Elizabeth Parkinson Hutton
💍 1917/3858

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

25
23

Christchurch
Timaru

3 years
Life

St. Mary's Church Timaru

3130

11 June 1917

Rev. J. H. Rogers Anglican

No	312
Date of Notice	11 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Captain William Papperell	Maude Elizabeth Parkinson-Hatton
BDM Match (95%)	Captain William Pepperell	Maude Elizabeth Parkinson Hutton
	💍 1917/3858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Timaru
Folio	3130
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers Anglican

313

11 June 1917

Harry Waters
Vera Rayner

Harvy Waters
Vera Rayner
💍 1917/926

Bachelor
Spinster

Theatre Manager

34
20

Riccarton
Christchurch

5 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church Merivale

2183

Lizzie Rayner Mother

11 June 1917

Rev. P. B. Haggitt Anglican

No	313
Date of Notice	11 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Waters	Vera Rayner
BDM Match (96%)	Harvy Waters	Vera Rayner
	💍 1917/926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Theatre Manager
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	2183
Consent	Lizzie Rayner Mother
Date of Certificate	11 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt 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).