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 1961

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1918

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

141

25 March 1918

Ernest Edward Needham
Margaret Furlong

Ernest Edward Needham
Margaret Furlong
💍 1918/1107

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

37
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
5 months

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

694

25 March 1918

Rev Leo J. A. Kennedy Roman Catholic

No	141
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Needham	Margaret Furlong
	💍 1918/1107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	694
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Leo J. A. Kennedy Roman Catholic

142

25 March 1918

Harold Alfred Mason
Jenette Seymour Clothier

Harold Alfred Mason
Jenette Seymour Clothier
💍 1918/1109

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapery Assistant
Saleswoman

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
9 months

St Paul's Church Christchurch

695

25 March 1918

Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Alfred Mason	Jenette Seymour Clothier
	💍 1918/1109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapery Assistant	Saleswoman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	9 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	695
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

143

25 March 1918

Carlo Bergamini
Vera Ella Watson

Carlo Bergamini
Vera Ella Watson
💍 1918/1110

Widower 9/11/14
Spinster

Warehouseman

23
21

Linwood
Addington

10 years
7 years

St Mary's Church Addington

696

25 March 1918

Rev W. S. Bean Anglican

No	143
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carlo Bergamini	Vera Ella Watson
	💍 1918/1110
Condition	Widower 9/11/14	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Addington
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	696
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Bean Anglican

144

25 March 1918

Henry Oswald Sutherland
Kathleen Agnes Rowe

Henry Oswald Sutherland
Cathleen Agnes Rowe
💍 1918/1111

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Nurse

26
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

Methodist Parsonage 173 Fitzgerald Avenue Christchurch

697

25 March 1918

Rev E. P. Blamires Methodist

No	144
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Oswald Sutherland	Kathleen Agnes Rowe
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Oswald Sutherland	Cathleen Agnes Rowe
	💍 1918/1111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Nurse
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage 173 Fitzgerald Avenue Christchurch
Folio	697
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E. P. Blamires Methodist

145

25 March 1918

Charles Gottermeyer
Wilhelmina Eva Prosper

Charles Gottermeyer
Wilhelmina Eva Prosper
💍 1918/1112

Widower Aug 31, 1916.
Spinster

Waterside Worker
Laundress

39
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
19 years

St Stephen's Church Shirley

698

25 March 1918

Rev L. Hard Anglican

No	145
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gottermeyer	Wilhelmina Eva Prosper
	💍 1918/1112
Condition	Widower Aug 31, 1916.	Spinster
Profession	Waterside Worker	Laundress
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church Shirley
Folio	698
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev L. Hard Anglican

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).