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 1941

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1917

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

5 January 1917

Everett Jack
Catherine Angela Donovan

Everett Jack
Catherine Angela Donovan
💍 1917/1436

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Draper's Assistant

25
20

Linwood
Christchurch

Life
12 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

567

Michael Donovan Father

5 January 1917

Rev. J. C. Murphy Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	5 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Everett Jack	Catherine Angela Donovan
	💍 1917/1436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Draper's Assistant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	567
Consent	Michael Donovan Father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Murphy Roman Catholic

5 January 1917

John Joseph Rowberry
Mary Crawley

John Joseph Rowberry
Mary Crawley
💍 1917/1437

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Machinist

39
30

Papanui
Spreydon

3 years
9 years

Dwelling of Mrs Crawley 9 Strickland St. Spreydon

568

5 January 1917

Rev. C. Murray Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	5 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Rowberry	Mary Crawley
	💍 1917/1437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Machinist
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Crawley 9 Strickland St. Spreydon
Folio	568
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray Presbyterian

5 January 1917

David Gibb
Winifred Mary Moyse

David Gibbs
Winifred Mary Moyse
💍 1917/1438

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier
Nurse

35
29

Woolston
Woolston

7 months
2 days (Just arrived from England)

St. John's Church Woolston

569

5 January 1917

Rev. H. Williams Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	5 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gibb	Winifred Mary Moyse
BDM Match (95%)	David Gibbs	Winifred Mary Moyse
	💍 1917/1438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier	Nurse
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	7 months	2 days (Just arrived from England)
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Woolston
Folio	569
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams Anglican

6 January 1917

Ernest Alfred Terry
Ann May Hussey

Ernest Alfred Terry
Ann May Hussey
💍 1917/2403

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Saleswoman

36
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
20 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

1568

6 January 1917

Rev. E. E. Chambers Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	6 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Terry	Ann May Hussey
	💍 1917/2403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Saleswoman
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	1568
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers Anglican

6 January 1917

William Havilah Down
Gladys Margaret Hamilton

William Havilah Down
Gladys Margaret Hamilton
💍 1917/1440

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

27
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
19 years

Methodist Church Selwyn St. South, Spreydon

570

Stephen Hamilton Father

6 January 1917

Rev. W. Harris Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	6 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Havilah Down	Gladys Margaret Hamilton
	💍 1917/1440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Selwyn St. South, Spreydon
Folio	570
Consent	Stephen Hamilton Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Harris Methodist

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).