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 1697

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar William Sibbald

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 July 1917

William Davies
Beatrice Weblin

William Davies
Beatrice Weblin
💍 1917/717

William Davies
Ivy Ellen Fletcher
💍 1917/432

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Machinist

33
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
10 days

At house of bride's father, Blenheim

17/4590

10 July 1917

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	10 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Davies	Beatrice Weblin
	💍 1917/717
BDM Match (58%)	William Davies	Ivy Ellen Fletcher
	💍 1917/432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Machinist
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	At house of bride's father, Blenheim
Folio	17/4590
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

11 July 1917

William Alfred Styles
Eleanor Gertrude Creswell

William Alfred Styles
Eleanor Gertrude Cresswell
💍 1917/718

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
20

Springlands Blenheim
Spring Creek

7 days
3 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

17/4591

Father, J. E. Creswell

11 July 1917

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	11 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Styles	Eleanor Gertrude Creswell
BDM Match (98%)	William Alfred Styles	Eleanor Gertrude Cresswell
	💍 1917/718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Springlands Blenheim	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	7 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	17/4591
Consent	Father, J. E. Creswell
Date of Certificate	11 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

12 July 1917

Wilfred Edmond Stanislau Porter
Olive Minnie Broughton

Wilfred Edmond Stanislaus Porter
Olive Minnie Broughton
💍 1917/5132

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

25
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

17/4602

14 July 1917

Wm Sibbald, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	12 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Edmond Stanislau Porter	Olive Minnie Broughton
BDM Match (98%)	Wilfred Edmond Stanislaus Porter	Olive Minnie Broughton
	💍 1917/5132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	17/4602
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Wm Sibbald, Registrar

16 July 1917

Cornelius Buckley
Florence Isabella Fish

Cornelius Buckley
Florence Isabella Fisk
💍 1917/719

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

30
28

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 months
5 months

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

17/4592

16 July 1917

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	16 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Buckley	Florence Isabella Fish
BDM Match (98%)	Cornelius Buckley	Florence Isabella Fisk
	💍 1917/719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	17/4592
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

30 July 1917

James Atwood
Miriam Jacobsen

James Atwood
Miriam Jacobsen
💍 1917/720

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic duties

23
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

Life
6 months

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

17/4593

30 July 1917

Wm Sibbald, Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	30 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Atwood	Miriam Jacobsen
	💍 1917/720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	Life	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	17/4593
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Wm Sibbald, Registrar

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).