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 1953

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

14 February 1917

Dominick Bradley
Mary Feeney

Domerick Bradley
Mary Feeney
💍 1917/1494

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Cook

58
45

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
2 weeks

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Manchester St Christchurch

624

14 February 1917

Rev. C. H. Seymour, R. C.

No	70
Date of Notice	14 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dominick Bradley	Mary Feeney
BDM Match (94%)	Domerick Bradley	Mary Feeney
	💍 1917/1494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Cook
Age	58	45
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Manchester St Christchurch
Folio	624
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour, R. C.

14 February 1917

Alick Groom
Mary Sugrue

Alick Groom
Mary Sugrue
💍 1917/1495

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Servant

36
28

New Brighton
Christchurch

3 years
5 years

St. Mary's Church Manchester St Christchurch

625

14 February 1917

Rev. C. H. Seymour, R. C.

No	71
Date of Notice	14 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alick Groom	Mary Sugrue
	💍 1917/1495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Servant
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Manchester St Christchurch
Folio	625
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour, R. C.

15 February 1917

George Oakleigh Greenwood
Helen Marjorie Hamber

George Oakleigh Greenwood
Helen Marjorie Hawber
💍 1917/1503

Bachelor
Spinster

Station manager

29
23

Amberley
Christchurch

12 years
7 years

St. Mary's Church Merivale

626

15 February 1917

Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

No	72
Date of Notice	15 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Oakleigh Greenwood	Helen Marjorie Hamber
BDM Match (98%)	George Oakleigh Greenwood	Helen Marjorie Hawber
	💍 1917/1503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station manager
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Amberley	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	626
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

15 February 1917

Thomas James Kedge
Ida Ruby Quartermaine

Thomas James Kedge
Ida Ruby Quartermaine
💍 1917/1514

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Teacher

30
23

Riccarton
Riccarton

6 days
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

627

15 February 1917

Registrar

No	73
Date of Notice	15 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Kedge	Ida Ruby Quartermaine
	💍 1917/1514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Teacher
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 days	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	627
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

16 February 1917

Gordon Barton Rennie
Selah Aroha Preston Brownell

Gordon Maxton Rennie
Selah Aroha Preston Brawnell
💍 1917/1521

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Typiste

32
26

Sydenham
Sydenham

4 days
1 year

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

628

16 February 1917

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	74
Date of Notice	16 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Barton Rennie	Selah Aroha Preston Brownell
BDM Match (93%)	Gordon Maxton Rennie	Selah Aroha Preston Brawnell
	💍 1917/1521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Typiste
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	628
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

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).