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 1929

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 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

7 October 1918

Thomas Williams Russell
Mary Christina McCormick

Thomas William Purcell
Mary Christina McCormick
💍 1918/3482

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry cook
Clerk

30
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

6021

7 October 1918

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	46
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Williams Russell	Mary Christina McCormick
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas William Purcell	Mary Christina McCormick
	💍 1918/3482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry cook	Clerk
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	6021
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

8 October 1918

William James Lennon
Ann Bishop

William James Lemon
Ann Bishop
💍 1918/6391

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

26
23

Ashburton
Tinwald

26 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

6022

8 October 1918

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Lennon	Ann Bishop
BDM Match (95%)	William James Lemon	Ann Bishop
	💍 1918/6391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	6022
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

16 October 1918

John Thomas Vickers
Lilian Mary Falconer

John Thomas Aicken
Lilian Mary Tavener
💍 1918/6392

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
30

Lowcliffe
Ashburton

14 years
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6023

16 October 1918

W. W. White, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	16 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Vickers	Lilian Mary Falconer
BDM Match (82%)	John Thomas Aicken	Lilian Mary Tavener
	💍 1918/6392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Ashburton
Length of Residence	14 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6023
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1918
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

20 November 1918

William James Herbert Brown
Jean Ross Lane

William James Herbert Brown
Jean Ross Lane
💍 1918/3484

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

30
29

Ashburton
Allenton

3 days
16 years

at the dwelling of John Lane, 48 Alford Road, Allenton

6024

20 November 1918

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	20 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Herbert Brown	Jean Ross Lane
	💍 1918/3484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of John Lane, 48 Alford Road, Allenton
Folio	6024
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

21 November 1918

Colin William Rene Campbell
Bessie Mugford

Colin William Rene Campbell
Bessie Mugford
💍 1918/3485

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
22

Ashburton
Waterton

4 years
22 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6025

21 November 1918

W. W. White, Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	21 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin William Rene Campbell	Bessie Mugford
	💍 1918/3485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Waterton
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6025
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 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).