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 1963

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

120

14 March 1917

David O'Brien
Beatrice Shelton Dixon

David O'Brien
Beatrice Sheldon Dixon
💍 1917/1765

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

35
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

Dwelling of Mrs Dixon, 34 P Harewood Rd, Harewood

671

14 March 1917

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	120
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David O'Brien	Beatrice Shelton Dixon
BDM Match (98%)	David O'Brien	Beatrice Sheldon Dixon
	💍 1917/1765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Dixon, 34 P Harewood Rd, Harewood
Folio	671
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

121

14 March 1917

Francis Edward Adams
Mary Catherine Edward Bowden

Francis Edward Adams
Catherine Mary Bowden
💍 1917/1766

Bachelor
Spinster

Aerated Water Employee

33
31

Waltham
Christchurch

13 years
16 years

Residence of Mrs Bowden, 312 St Asaph St, Christchurch

672

14 March 1917

Rev. T. Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

No	121
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Adams	Mary Catherine Edward Bowden
BDM Match (84%)	Francis Edward Adams	Catherine Mary Bowden
	💍 1917/1766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aerated Water Employee
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Waltham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Bowden, 312 St Asaph St, Christchurch
Folio	672
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

122

14 March 1917

Thomas Alexandra Clephane
Alice May Elford

Thomas Alexander Clapham
Alice May Elford
💍 1917/1767

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Springston
Ellesmere

1 month
7 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

673

14 March 1917

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	122
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexandra Clephane	Alice May Elford
BDM Match (90%)	Thomas Alexander Clapham	Alice May Elford
	💍 1917/1767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Springston	Ellesmere
Length of Residence	1 month	7 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	673
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

123

15 March 1917

Thomas McIlhone
Ursula Glover

Thomas McIlwane
Ursula Glover
💍 1917/1768

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

48
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St John's Church, Christchurch

674

15 March 1917

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	123
Date of Notice	15 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McIlhone	Ursula Glover
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas McIlwane	Ursula Glover
	💍 1917/1768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	674
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

124

19 March 1917

Edwin Leonard Rice
Evelyn Ruby Baird

Edwin Leonard Rice
Evelyn Ruby Baird
💍 1917/1769

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Ledger-keeper

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. S. Baird, 447 Worcester St., Linwood

675

19 March 1917

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	124
Date of Notice	19 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Leonard Rice	Evelyn Ruby Baird
	💍 1917/1769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Ledger-keeper
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. S. Baird, 447 Worcester St., Linwood
Folio	675
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 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).