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 1926

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 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

24 February 1917

Charles Stanley Gourdie
Jessie Louise Smith

Charles Stanley Gourdie
Jessie Louise Smith
💍 1917/2138

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier G. Coy 24th Reinforcement
Domestic duties

20
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 day
20 years

The dwelling of Alfred Smith Kermode Street Ashburton

1277

Peter Gourdie father of Minor

24 February 1917

Rev. Geo Miller

No	6
Date of Notice	24 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stanley Gourdie	Jessie Louise Smith
	💍 1917/2138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier G. Coy 24th Reinforcement	Domestic duties
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 day	20 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling of Alfred Smith Kermode Street Ashburton
Folio	1277
Consent	Peter Gourdie father of Minor
Date of Certificate	24 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

24 February 1917

Thomas Morriss
Mary Ellen Peterson

Thomas Morriss
Mary Ellen Peterson
💍 1917/2139

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic duties

22
19

Allenton
Ashburton

15 years
4 years

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

1278

Albert Wilhelm Peterson father of Minor

24 February 1917

Rev. Geo Miller

No	7
Date of Notice	24 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Morriss	Mary Ellen Peterson
	💍 1917/2139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	1278
Consent	Albert Wilhelm Peterson father of Minor
Date of Certificate	24 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

28 February 1917

Daniel Ward
Margaret Murray

Daniel Ward
Margaret Murray
💍 1917/2140

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

37
36

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1279

28 February 1917

W. W. White Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	28 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Ward	Margaret Murray
	💍 1917/2140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1279
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1917
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

12 March 1917

Gomer John
Rosaline Maud Healey

Gomer John
Rosaline Maud Healey
💍 1917/2141

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

33
20

Allenton
Fairton

30 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1280

William Healey father of Minor

12 March 1917

W. W. White Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	12 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gomer John	Rosaline Maud Healey
	💍 1917/2141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Fairton
Length of Residence	30 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1280
Consent	William Healey father of Minor
Date of Certificate	12 March 1917
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

14 March 1917

Andrew Sutherland
Elizabeth McAlister

Andrew Sutherland
Elizabeth McAllister
💍 1917/2142

Bachelor
Spinster

Flour Miller
Clerk

48
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 years
6 years

at the dwelling of Mrs Elizabeth McAlister Moore Street Ashburton

1281

14 March 1917

Rev. Geo Miller

No	10
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Sutherland	Elizabeth McAlister
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Sutherland	Elizabeth McAllister
	💍 1917/2142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flour Miller	Clerk
Age	48	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Mrs Elizabeth McAlister Moore Street Ashburton
Folio	1281
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

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).