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 1819

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 October 1917

Percy Bolton
Mabel Simmonds

Percy Bolton
Mabel Simmonds
💍 1917/6323

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit grower
Saleswoman

28
28

Nelson
Nelson

15 months
4 years

Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson

17/6209

1 October 1917

Rev. P. A. Dickson

No	55
Date of Notice	1 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Bolton	Mabel Simmonds
	💍 1917/6323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit grower	Saleswoman
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	17/6209
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Dickson

2 October 1917

Stanley Roy Webby
Emma Elizabeth Bovey

Stanley Roy Webby
Emma Elizabeth Bovey
💍 1917/6324

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 weeks
6 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

17/6210

2 October 1917

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	2 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Roy Webby	Emma Elizabeth Bovey
	💍 1917/6324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	17/6210
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1917
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

15 October 1917

Charles Arthur Curnow
Frances Helen Zoe Atwood

Charles Arthur Curnow
Frances Helen Zoe Atwood
💍 1917/6325

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

47
31

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 years

Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson

17/6211

15 October 1917

Rev. J. Laird

No	57
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Arthur Curnow	Frances Helen Zoe Atwood
	💍 1917/6325
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	47	31
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	17/6211
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird

2 November 1917

George Cyril Jennens
Ida May Burnett

George Cyril Jennens
Ida May Burnett
💍 1917/6326

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Household duties

23
27

Nelson
Nelson

23 years
2 weeks

Residence of Mr. J. H. Jennens, 88 Grove Street, Nelson

17/6212

2 November 1917

Rev. J. Laird

No	58
Date of Notice	2 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cyril Jennens	Ida May Burnett
	💍 1917/6326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Household duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	23 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Jennens, 88 Grove Street, Nelson
Folio	17/6212
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird

9 November 1917

Fredrick Selwyn Potton
Florrie Saunders

Fredrick Selwyn Potton
Florrie Saunders
💍 1917/6327

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
22

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
18 years

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

17/6213

Henry James Potton, Father

9 November 1917

Rev. K. J. McGrath

No	59
Date of Notice	9 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Selwyn Potton	Florrie Saunders
	💍 1917/6327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	17/6213
Consent	Henry James Potton, Father
Date of Certificate	9 November 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).