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 1948

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

29 January 1917

John Walter Ernest Evans
Elizabeth McLeod

John Walter Ernest Evans
Elizabeth McLeod
💍 1917/1469

Bachelor
Spinster

Ships Steward

38
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

8 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

599

29 January 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter Ernest Evans	Elizabeth McLeod
	💍 1917/1469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ships Steward
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	599
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

29 January 1917

Ernest Clarence Cross
Florrie Bartle (name at birth) Florrie Holt (name by adoption)

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

24
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
10 years

Dwelling of Rev. H. Johnson, 171 River Rd Avonside

600

29 January 1917

Rev. H. Johnson Congregational

No	46
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Clarence Cross	Florrie Bartle (name at birth) Florrie Holt (name by adoption)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev. H. Johnson, 171 River Rd Avonside
Folio	600
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson Congregational

29 January 1917

Neils Peter Jorgensen
Barbara Elizabeth Duff

Niels Peter Jorgensen
Barbara Elizabeth Duff
💍 1917/1478

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
21

Christchurch
Sydenham

5 days
5 days

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

601

29 January 1917

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neils Peter Jorgensen	Barbara Elizabeth Duff
BDM Match (95%)	Niels Peter Jorgensen	Barbara Elizabeth Duff
	💍 1917/1478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	601
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

29 January 1917

Leonard Gordon Matthews
Clara Beatrice Wass

Leonard Gordon Matthews
Clara Beatrice Wass
💍 1917/1489

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Dressmaker

26
26

Woolston
Woolston

1 week
Life

St. Johns Church Woolston

602

29 January 1917

Rev. W. H. Orbell Anglican

No	48
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Gordon Matthews	Clara Beatrice Wass
	💍 1917/1489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Dressmaker
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	1 week	Life
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church Woolston
Folio	602
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell Anglican

30 January 1917

Edward Fitzgerald
Hyacinth Teresa Elizabeth Toomey

Edward Fitzgerald
Hyacinth Teresa Elizabeth Toomey
💍 1917/1496

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

28
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

603

Anastasia McCurdy formerly Toomey, mother

30 January 1917

Rev. J. Murphy R.C.

No	49
Date of Notice	30 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Fitzgerald	Hyacinth Teresa Elizabeth Toomey
	💍 1917/1496
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	603
Consent	Anastasia McCurdy formerly Toomey, mother
Date of Certificate	30 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Murphy R.C.

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).