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 1817

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar S. Tyson

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

30 July 1917

Eric Nelson Jennens
Evelyn Marguerite Elliott

Eric Nelson Jennens
Evelyn Marguerite Elliott
💍 1917/5155

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Showroom assistant

27
26

Nelson
Nelson

26 years
3 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

17/4627

30 July 1917

Canon W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	30 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Nelson Jennens	Evelyn Marguerite Elliott
	💍 1917/5155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Showroom assistant
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	17/4627
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Canon W. Wollstein, Church of England

31 July 1917

Edward James Stollery
Margery Hastilow

Edward James Stollery
Margary Hastilow
💍 1917/5166

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
3 years

Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson

17/4628

William Hastilow, Father

31 July 1917

Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ

No	46
Date of Notice	31 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Stollery	Margery Hastilow
BDM Match (97%)	Edward James Stollery	Margary Hastilow
	💍 1917/5166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	17/4628
Consent	William Hastilow, Father
Date of Certificate	31 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ

1 August 1917

Matthias William Maylor Sheldon
Emily Leece

Matthias William Maylor Sheldon
Emily Leece
💍 1917/5173

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
17

Nelson
Nelson

3 months
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

17/4629

Emily Leece Staines, Mother

1 August 1917

Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	1 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthias William Maylor Sheldon	Emily Leece
	💍 1917/5173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	17/4629
Consent	Emily Leece Staines, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

8 August 1917

Cornelius Whicker Leach
Laura McCorkell

Cornelius Whicker Leach
Laura McCorkell
💍 1917/5174

Widower 27/8/1915
Spinster

Orchardist
Accountant

50
33

Wakatu
Nelson

50 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

17/4630

8 August 1917

C. Tyson, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	8 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Whicker Leach	Laura McCorkell
	💍 1917/5174
Condition	Widower 27/8/1915	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Accountant
Age	50	33
Dwelling Place	Wakatu	Nelson
Length of Residence	50 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	17/4630
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1917
Officiating Minister	C. Tyson, Registrar

27 August 1917

Charles Francis Saunders
Violet May Erskine

Charles Francis Saunders
Violet May Erskine
💍 1917/5175

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

35
36

Nelson
Wakapuaka

5 days
36 years

St Peter's Church, Atawhai

17/4631

27 August 1917

Right Rev. the Bishop of Nelson, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	27 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Francis Saunders	Violet May Erskine
	💍 1917/5175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	5 days	36 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Atawhai
Folio	17/4631
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. the Bishop of Nelson, Church of England

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).