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 2015

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

402

24 July 1918

Gordon Gemmell
Grace McLean

Gordon Gemmell
Grace McLean
💍 1918/4237

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and Joiner
Dressmaker

30
28

Sydenham
Sydenham

8 months
28 years

Residence of Rev. J. Paterson, 346 Worcester Street, Christchurch

3404

24 July 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	402
Date of Notice	24 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Gemmell	Grace McLean
	💍 1918/4237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and Joiner	Dressmaker
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	8 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Paterson, 346 Worcester Street, Christchurch
Folio	3404
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

403

25 July 1918

Joseph William Bake
Minnie Payne

Joseph William Bate
Minnie Payne
💍 1918/4238

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-hand

19
19

St. Albans
St. Albans

4 weeks
19 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3405

James Abraham Bake, Father; Ada Eugenie Payne, Mother

25 July 1918

Registrar

No	403
Date of Notice	25 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Bake	Minnie Payne
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph William Bate	Minnie Payne
	💍 1918/4238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-hand
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3405
Consent	James Abraham Bake, Father; Ada Eugenie Payne, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

404

26 July 1918

William Olivet Brown
Winifred Lily Trevise

William Oliver Brown
Winifred Lily Trerise
💍 1918/4239

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

25
23

Opawa
Opawa

1 year
23 years

Methodist Church, Opawa

3406

26 July 1918

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	404
Date of Notice	26 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Olivet Brown	Winifred Lily Trevise
BDM Match (95%)	William Oliver Brown	Winifred Lily Trerise
	💍 1918/4239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	1 year	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Opawa
Folio	3406
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

405

26 July 1918

Henry Le Brun
Avis Jane Reynish

Henry Le Brun
Avis Jane Reynish
💍 1918/4240

Widower, August 9, 1901
Widow, July 4, 1907

Gardener

57
62

Fendalton
Fendalton

48 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3407

26 July 1918

Registrar

No	405
Date of Notice	26 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Le Brun	Avis Jane Reynish
	💍 1918/4240
Condition	Widower, August 9, 1901	Widow, July 4, 1907
Profession	Gardener
Age	57	62
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Fendalton
Length of Residence	48 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3407
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

406

26 July 1918

Richard Thomas Atkinson
Elizabeth Goodwill

Richard Thomas Atkinson
Elizabeth Goodwill
💍 1918/4241

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. T. Evans, 9 Suffolk Street, Linwood

3408

26 July 1918

Rev. L. Hudson, Methodist

No	406
Date of Notice	26 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Atkinson	Elizabeth Goodwill
	💍 1918/4241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. Evans, 9 Suffolk Street, Linwood
Folio	3408
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Hudson, 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).