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 2101

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar Alex McLean

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

15 January 1917

Gabriel Christopher Gons
Annie Regan

Patrick Christopher Lyons
Annie Regan
💍 1917/2124

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

32
32

Geraldine
Orari Bridge

6 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Church Geraldine

1287

15 January 1917

Rev. Father Bowers

No	1
Date of Notice	15 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gabriel Christopher Gons	Annie Regan
BDM Match (88%)	Patrick Christopher Lyons	Annie Regan
	💍 1917/2124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Orari Bridge
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Geraldine
Folio	1287
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Bowers

12 February 1917

Henry Howard Gibson
Rose Jemima Wharton

Henry Howard Gibson
Rose Jemima Wharton
💍 1917/2125

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

28
25

Rangitata
Rangitata

4 days
Life

Church of England Geraldine

1288

12 February 1917

Rev. S. Hamilton

No	2
Date of Notice	12 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Howard Gibson	Rose Jemima Wharton
	💍 1917/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Rangitata	Rangitata
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Geraldine
Folio	1288
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton

27 March 1917

John Russell Wells
Phoebe Doris Bardsley Maslin

John Russell Wells
Phoebe Doris Bardsley Maslin
💍 1917/2127

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

26
24

Geraldine
Geraldine

1 day
Life

Residence of W. S. Maslin Geraldine

1290

27 March 1917

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	3
Date of Notice	27 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Russell Wells	Phoebe Doris Bardsley Maslin
	💍 1917/2127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	1 day	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of W. S. Maslin Geraldine
Folio	1290
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

27 March 1917

Edward Toomey
Lucy Violet Prattley

Edward Toomey
Lucy Violet Prattley
💍 1917/586

Widower
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic

31
20

Winchester
Winchester

Life
Life

Methodist Church Temuka

1538

Elizabeth Prattley mother

27 March 1917

Rev. J. Griffin

No	4
Date of Notice	27 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Toomey	Lucy Violet Prattley
	💍 1917/586
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Winchester	Winchester
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Temuka
Folio	1538
Consent	Elizabeth Prattley mother
Date of Certificate	27 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Griffin

28 March 1917

Ernest Krause
Zachoda Smith

Ernest Krause
Fashoda Smith
💍 1917/2126

Bachelor
Spinster

Picture operator
Domestic

23
18

Geraldine
Geraldine

Life
Life

Residence of J. J. Krause Geraldine

1289

Sarah Smith mother

28 March 1917

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	5
Date of Notice	28 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Krause	Zachoda Smith
BDM Match (92%)	Ernest Krause	Fashoda Smith
	💍 1917/2126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Picture operator	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of J. J. Krause Geraldine
Folio	1289
Consent	Sarah Smith mother
Date of Certificate	28 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

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).