Intentions to Marry, 1918 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840479, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918e contains pages 1647-2188, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1801

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar S. 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

1 July 1918

Conrad Augusta Byrne
Grace Cordelia Heatrupp

Conrad Augusta Byrne
Grace Cordelia Westrupp
💍 1918/5490

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
14 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

18/4608

1 July 1918

Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	1 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Augusta Byrne	Grace Cordelia Heatrupp
BDM Match (96%)	Conrad Augusta Byrne	Grace Cordelia Westrupp
	💍 1918/5490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	18/4608
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

1 July 1918

John Graham
Ida Muriel Wastney

John Graham
Ida Muriel Wastney
💍 1918/5491

Bachelor
Spinster

Restaurant Keeper
Domestic duties

34
18

Nelson
Nelson

3 months
18 years

St. Peter's Church, Wakapuaka

18/4609

Arthur Wastney, Father

1 July 1918

Rev. F. J. Ferry, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	1 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Graham	Ida Muriel Wastney
	💍 1918/5491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Restaurant Keeper	Domestic duties
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wakapuaka
Folio	18/4609
Consent	Arthur Wastney, Father
Date of Certificate	1 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Ferry, Church of England

2 July 1918

Robert Noble-Adams
Cora Irene Leslie

Robert Noble Adams
Cora Irene Leslie
💍 1918/5492

Widower 4/5/17
Spinster

Surgeon
Domestic duties

42
37

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
10 days

Dwelling of Edward Burns Moore, Port Nelson

18/4610

4 July 1918

Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	2 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Noble-Adams	Cora Irene Leslie
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Noble Adams	Cora Irene Leslie
	💍 1918/5492
Condition	Widower 4/5/17	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon	Domestic duties
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Edward Burns Moore, Port Nelson
Folio	18/4610
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

15 July 1918

James Davis
Lucina Mary Eastabrook

James Davis
Lucina Mary Eastabrook
💍 1918/5469

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith and Plumber
Nurse

42
38

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
3 months

Dwelling of Thomas Louisson, Trafalgar Street, Nelson

18/4611

16 July 1918

Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ

No	32
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Davis	Lucina Mary Eastabrook
	💍 1918/5469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith and Plumber	Nurse
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Louisson, Trafalgar Street, Nelson
Folio	18/4611
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ

25 July 1918

Clement Clarence Hammond
Eunice Ruby Lois Horton

Clement Clarence Hammond
Eunice Ruby Lois Horton
💍 1918/5470

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-hand
Domestic duties

28
21

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
3 days

Dwelling of William James Penney, Kawai Street, Nelson

18/4612

26 July 1918

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	25 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Clarence Hammond	Eunice Ruby Lois Horton
	💍 1918/5470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-hand	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William James Penney, Kawai Street, Nelson
Folio	18/4612
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

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).