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 1812

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar B. Tyson

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 May 1917

Selwyn Charles Winterburn
Mary Gertrude Loughlen

Selwyn Charles Winterburn
Mary Gertrude Loughlin
💍 1917/3762

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Teacher

20
22

Nelson
Nelson

6 years
6 months

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson.

17/3008

Arthur Augustus Winterburn, Father.

14 May 1917

Rev. K. J. McGrath Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	14 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn Charles Winterburn	Mary Gertrude Loughlen
BDM Match (98%)	Selwyn Charles Winterburn	Mary Gertrude Loughlin
	💍 1917/3762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Teacher
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson.
Folio	17/3008
Consent	Arthur Augustus Winterburn, Father.
Date of Certificate	14 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath Roman Catholic

16 May 1917

William Moore
Edith Harriet Norton

William Moore
Edith Harriet Horton
💍 1917/3743

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Housekeeper

29
24

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
7 years

Christ church Cathedral, Nelson

17/3013

16 May 1917

Rev. G. E. Weeks Church of England.

No	26
Date of Notice	16 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Moore	Edith Harriet Norton
BDM Match (98%)	William Moore	Edith Harriet Horton
	💍 1917/3743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Housekeeper
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Christ church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	17/3013
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks Church of England.

17 May 1917

Thomas Collins
Della Leece

Thomas Collins
Della Leece
💍 1917/3763

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway-shunter
Housemaid

32
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
4 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

17/3009

17 May 1917

Rev. K. J. McGrath Roman Catholic.

No	27
Date of Notice	17 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Collins	Della Leece
	💍 1917/3763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway-shunter	Housemaid
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	17/3009
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath Roman Catholic.

22 May 1917

Harry Reginald Dodson
Kathleen Blechynden

Harry Reginald Dodson
Kathleen Blechynden
💍 1917/959

Bachelor
Spinster

Member of 29th Reinforcement New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
Domestic duties.

34
25

Nelson
Nelson

10 years

Christ church Cathedral, Nelson

17/3010

22 May 1917

Rev. G. E. Weeks Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	22 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Reginald Dodson	Kathleen Blechynden
	💍 1917/959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Member of 29th Reinforcement New Zealand Expeditionary Force.	Domestic duties.
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence		10 years
Marriage Place	Christ church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	17/3010
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks Church of England

23 May 1917

Cuthbert Whitwell
Priscilla Lineham

Cuthbert Whitwell
Priscilla Lineham
💍 1917/3690

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Surveyor.
Domestic duties

41
39

Wanganui
Nelson

3 days
1 year

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui

17/2951

23 May 1917

Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui.

No	29
Date of Notice	23 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cuthbert Whitwell	Priscilla Lineham
	💍 1917/3690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Surveyor.	Domestic duties
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui
Folio	17/2951
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui.

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).