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 1865

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. McIndoe

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 April 1917

Frederick Arthur Kitchingham
Dorothy Clara Wylde

Frederick Arthur Kitchingham
Dorothy Clara Wylde
💍 1917/3806

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic

31
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

25 years
7 years

St. Thomas's Church Runanga

3029

3 April 1917

Rev. G. W. York Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	3 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arthur Kitchingham	Dorothy Clara Wylde
	💍 1917/3806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas's Church Runanga
Folio	3029
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York Church of England

3 April 1917

Herbert James Rice
Mary Wilson Billing

Herbert James Rice
Mary Susan Willing
💍 1917/3807

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Lady-Help

27
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

12 years
10 years

St. Paul's Methodist Church Greymouth

3030

3 April 1917

Rev. E. D. Patchett Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	3 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Rice	Mary Wilson Billing
BDM Match (87%)	Herbert James Rice	Mary Susan Willing
	💍 1917/3807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Lady-Help
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church Greymouth
Folio	3030
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett Methodist

16 April 1917

William Robert Arthur Roberts
Amy Brisbane

William Arthur Roberts
Amy Brisbane
💍 1917/3810

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-hand
Waitress

34
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 weeks
23

Holy Trinity Church Greymouth

3033

16 April 1917

Archdeacon York Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	16 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Arthur Roberts	Amy Brisbane
BDM Match (88%)	William Arthur Roberts	Amy Brisbane
	💍 1917/3810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-hand	Waitress
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 weeks	23
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Greymouth
Folio	3033
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon York Church of England

21 April 1917

Edward John Keating
Sarah Dunn

Edward John Keating
Sarah Dunn
💍 1917/3808

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
26

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
26 years

Registrar's Office Greymouth

3031

21 April 1917

James McIndoe (Registrar)

No	9
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Keating	Sarah Dunn
	💍 1917/3808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Greymouth
Folio	3031
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	James McIndoe (Registrar)

7 May 1917

Lionel Ernest Lines
Rebecca Jameson

Lionel Ernest Lines
Rebecca Jamieson
💍 1917/3809

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

27
27

Greymouth
Cobden

4 days
27 years

Church of England Runanga and Cobden

3032

7 May 1917

Venerable Archdeacon York Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	7 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Ernest Lines	Rebecca Jameson
BDM Match (97%)	Lionel Ernest Lines	Rebecca Jamieson
	💍 1917/3809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	4 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Runanga and Cobden
Folio	3032
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Venerable Archdeacon York 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).