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 1815

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

3 July 1917

William James Gallen
Vanda Myra Natalie Ellis

William James Gallen
Vanda Myra Natalie Ellis
💍 1917/5138

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
20

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
13 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson

17/4618

Emily Myra Ellis, Mother

3 July 1917

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	3 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Gallen	Vanda Myra Natalie Ellis
	💍 1917/5138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	13 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	17/4618
Consent	Emily Myra Ellis, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

11 July 1917

George Rutherford
Mabel Elizabeth Berryman

George Rutherford
Mabel Elizabeth Berryman
💍 1917/5139

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep-farmer

39
30

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

The Cathedral, Nelson

17/4619

11 July 1917

Right Rev. the Bishop of Nelson, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	11 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rutherford	Mabel Elizabeth Berryman
	💍 1917/5139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep-farmer
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	17/4619
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. the Bishop of Nelson, Church of England

14 July 1917

James Alfred Brewerton
Emily Ella Daly

James Alfred Brewerton
Emily Ella Daly
💍 1917/5176

Widower 21. 4. 1917
Widow 10. 4. 1909

Labourer
Domestic duties

49
41

Nelson
Nelson

9 years
41 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

17/4632

14 July 1917

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	14 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Brewerton	Emily Ella Daly
	💍 1917/5176
Condition	Widower 21. 4. 1917	Widow 10. 4. 1909
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	49	41
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 years	41 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	17/4632
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

17 July 1917

John Lately Galey
Rosetta Mary Ann Brooks

John Lately Galey
Rosetta Mary Ann Brooks
💍 1917/5140

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
21

Nelson
Nelson

7 days
2 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

17/4620

17 July 1917

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	17 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lately Galey	Rosetta Mary Ann Brooks
	💍 1917/5140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	17/4620
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1917
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

18 July 1917

George Westrupp
Fanny Rutherford

George Westrupp
Fanny Rutherford
💍 1917/5141

Bachelor
Widow 5/10/1916

Seaman
Domestic duties

29
33

Nelson
Nelson

29 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

17/4621

18 July 1917

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	18 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Westrupp	Fanny Rutherford
	💍 1917/5141
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 5/10/1916
Profession	Seaman	Domestic duties
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	29 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	17/4621
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1917
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, 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).