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 1847

District of Waimangaroa Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar E. M. Sowerby

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

31 January 1917

Gilbert Gardiner
Margaret Syme Adam

Gilbert Gardiner
Margaret Syme Adam
💍 1917/2096

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Cook

25
26

Denniston
Denniston

3 days
1 1/2 years

Residence of Mrs J. Caldwell, Denniston

1259

31 January 1917

Rev. J. J. Burrows, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	31 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Gardiner	Margaret Syme Adam
	💍 1917/2096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Cook
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	3 days	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Caldwell, Denniston
Folio	1259
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Burrows, Presbyterian

13 February 1917

Fred Hare
Janet Burdon

Fred Hare
Janet Burdon
💍 1917/2079

Bachelor
Widow

Commercial Traveller
Publican

48
48

Westport
Denniston

3 weeks
27 years

Registrar's Office, Westport

1218

13 February 1917

J. C. Dale, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	13 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Hare	Janet Burdon
	💍 1917/2079
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Publican
Age	48	48
Dwelling Place	Westport	Denniston
Length of Residence	3 weeks	27 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport
Folio	1218
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1917
Officiating Minister	J. C. Dale, Registrar

16 February 1917

Thomas Hodgetts
Mary McFarlane Hoggan

Thomas Hodgetts
Mary McFarlane Hoggan
💍 1917/2119

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
20

Burnetts Face
Burnetts Face

2 years
2 years

St James Church, Waimangaroa

1258

There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent 14 days notice given

6 March 1917

Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	16 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hodgetts	Mary McFarlane Hoggan
	💍 1917/2119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Burnetts Face	Burnetts Face
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St James Church, Waimangaroa
Folio	1258
Consent	There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent 14 days notice given
Date of Certificate	6 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

31 March 1917

George Cumming
Maria Davies

George Cumming
Maria Davies
💍 1917/2399

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
22

Denniston
Burnetts Face

2 years
15 years

Residence of Evan Davies Esq, Burnetts Face

1564

31 March 1917

James Caldwell, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	31 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cumming	Maria Davies
	💍 1917/2399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Burnetts Face
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Evan Davies Esq, Burnetts Face
Folio	1564
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1917
Officiating Minister	James Caldwell, Presbyterian

31 March 1917

Charles Allan Moseley
Aileen Hennessy

Charles Allan Moseley
Aileen Hennessy
💍 1917/2400

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Postmistress

22
21

Denniston
Waimangaroa

9 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Waimangaroa

1565

31 March 1917

Rev. Thomas Walshe, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	31 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Allan Moseley	Aileen Hennessy
	💍 1917/2400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Postmistress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Waimangaroa
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waimangaroa
Folio	1565
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Walshe, Roman Catholic

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).