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 1931

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar W. W. White

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 May 1917

Walter James Griffiths
Renah Mahoney

Walter James Griffiths
Renah Mahoney
💍 1917/78

Bachelor
Spinster

Reinforcement soldier 26th
Domestic duties

29
32

Cox St, Ashburton
Allenton

29 years
32 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3003

1 June 1917

W. W. White Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Griffiths	Renah Mahoney
	💍 1917/78
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reinforcement soldier 26th	Domestic duties
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Cox St, Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	29 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3003
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1917
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

6 June 1917

James Henderson
Alice Victoria Simpson

James Henderson
Alice Victoria Simpson
💍 1917/79

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Saleswoman

30
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

3064

6 June 1917

Rev. H. N. Wright

No	25
Date of Notice	6 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henderson	Alice Victoria Simpson
	💍 1917/79
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Saleswoman
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3064
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright

16 June 1917

Robert Thomas McCann
Ethel Mary Dellow

Robert Thomas McCann
Ethel Marj Dellow
💍 1917/80

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier 28th Reinforcements
Domestic duties

25
22

Westerfield
Westerfield

1 day
6 years

At the dwelling of William Dellow Westerfield

3065

16 June 1917

Mr W. E. Sleep

No	26
Date of Notice	16 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thomas McCann	Ethel Mary Dellow
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Thomas McCann	Ethel Marj Dellow
	💍 1917/80
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier 28th Reinforcements	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Westerfield
Length of Residence	1 day	6 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of William Dellow Westerfield
Folio	3065
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Mr W. E. Sleep

22 June 1917

William Leslie Brown
Olive May Aldridge

William Leslie Brown
Olive May Aldridge
💍 1917/81

Widower
Spinster

Slaughterman
Waitress

29
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

29 years
12 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3066

Mary Aldridge Mother of Minor

22 June 1917

W. W. White Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	22 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Brown	Olive May Aldridge
	💍 1917/81
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Waitress
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3066
Consent	Mary Aldridge Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	22 June 1917
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

26 June 1917

George Bowman
Klara Butterick

George Bowman
Clara Butterick
💍 1917/4075

Widower
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic duties

45
34

Ashburton
Wakanui

21 years
34 years

At the dwelling of Walter Butterick Wakanui

3322

26 June 1917

Rev. George Frost

No	28
Date of Notice	26 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bowman	Klara Butterick
BDM Match (97%)	George Bowman	Clara Butterick
	💍 1917/4075
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic duties
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Wakanui
Length of Residence	21 years	34 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Walter Butterick Wakanui
Folio	3322
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Frost

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).