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 1917

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1918 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

4 January 1918

Frederick Charles Williams
Florence May Healey

Frederick Charles Williams
Florence May Healey
💍 1918/1931

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

29
18

Ashburton
Fairfield

3 days
6 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1342

William Henry Healey father of Minor.

4 January 1918

W. W. White Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Williams	Florence May Healey
	💍 1918/1931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Fairfield
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1342
Consent	William Henry Healey father of Minor.
Date of Certificate	4 January 1918
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

5 January 1918

Thomas Williams Kircher
Esther Eva Hickman

Thomas Williams Kircher
Esther Eva Hickman
💍 1918/1932

Widower
Spinster

Drover
Domestic duties

42
40

Tinwald
Tinwald

9 years
10 years

at the dwelling of Sarah Hickman Tinwald

1343

5 January 1918

Rev. W. J. Oxbrow Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Williams Kircher	Esther Eva Hickman
	💍 1918/1932
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic duties
Age	42	40
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Sarah Hickman Tinwald
Folio	1343
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Oxbrow Methodist

9 January 1918

Henry Stewart Gardner
Frances Leah Smith

Henry Stewart Gardner
Frances Leah Smith
💍 1918/1933

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Nurse

41
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

1344

9 January 1918

Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stewart Gardner	Frances Leah Smith
	💍 1918/1933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Nurse
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	1344
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

4 February 1918

Graham Johns
Elizabeth Eleanor Knosp

Graham Johns
Elizabeth Eleanor Knox
💍 1918/1935

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Weaver

29
26

Trevorton
Allenton

23 years
26 years

Church of Christ Ashburton

1345

4 February 1918

Mr J. M. Innes.

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Johns	Elizabeth Eleanor Knosp
BDM Match (96%)	Graham Johns	Elizabeth Eleanor Knox
	💍 1918/1935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Weaver
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Trevorton	Allenton
Length of Residence	23 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Ashburton
Folio	1345
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr J. M. Innes.

25 February 1918

Percival Rae
Lucy Christina Solway

Percival Rae
Lucy Christina Solway
💍 1918/1936

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
domestic duties

27
18

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1346

Lucy McMillan Mother of Minor.

25 February 1918

W. W. White Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Rae	Lucy Christina Solway
	💍 1918/1936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	domestic duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1346
Consent	Lucy McMillan Mother of Minor.
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

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).