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 1935

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 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

2 October 1917

Arner Alcorn Orr
Marion Horne

Armer Alcorn Orr
Marion Horne
💍 1917/6354

Widower 23/8/1915
Spinster

Merchant
domestic duties

47
53

Ashburton
Ashburton

40 years
8 months

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6240

2 October 1917

Rev. H. N. Wright. Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	2 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arner Alcorn Orr	Marion Horne
BDM Match (97%)	Armer Alcorn Orr	Marion Horne
	💍 1917/6354
Condition	Widower 23/8/1915	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	domestic duties
Age	47	53
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	40 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6240
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright. Church of England

2 October 1917

Francis Spargoe Nicholls
Josephine Catherine Margaret McCormick

Francis Spargoe Nicholls
Josephine Catherine Margaret McCormick
💍 1917/6556

Widower 4/1/1916
Spinster

Painter
domestic duties

33
32

Ashburton
Tinwald

29 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery Ashburton

6445

2 October 1917

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	2 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Spargoe Nicholls	Josephine Catherine Margaret McCormick
	💍 1917/6556
Condition	Widower 4/1/1916	Spinster
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	29 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Ashburton
Folio	6445
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

11 October 1917

Orry Moore
Ethel May Stringfellow

Orry Moore
Ethel May Stringfellow
💍 1917/6355

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
domestic duties

27
25

Ashburton
Mitcham Road

6 years
25 years

At the dwelling of Henry Stringfellow Mitcham Road Ashburton

6241

11 October 1917

Rev H. N. Wright Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	11 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Orry Moore	Ethel May Stringfellow
	💍 1917/6355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	domestic duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Mitcham Road
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Henry Stringfellow Mitcham Road Ashburton
Folio	6241
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. N. Wright Church of England

3 November 1917

Ernest O'Brien
Katherine Kennedy

Ernest O'Brien
Katherine Kennedy
💍 1917/6356

Widower 23/10/16
Spinster

farm hand
domestic duties

41
30

Winchmore
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6242

3 November 1917

W. W. White Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	3 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest O'Brien	Katherine Kennedy
	💍 1917/6356
Condition	Widower 23/10/16	Spinster
Profession	farm hand	domestic duties
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Winchmore	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6242
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1917
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

3 November 1917

Robert Henry Hampton
Kathleen Sarah Noble

Robert Henry Hampton
Kathleen Sarah Noble
💍 1917/6357

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29
22

Hinds
Lynnford

29 years
22 years

Church of England Hinds

6243

3 November 1917

Rev. J. F. Feron Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	3 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Hampton	Kathleen Sarah Noble
	💍 1917/6357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Lynnford
Length of Residence	29 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hinds
Folio	6243
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Feron 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).