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 1930

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar C. O. Coote

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

10 December 1918

David Forest Mark Milne
Minnie Henrietta Thomas

David Forest Clark Milne
Minnie Henrietta Thomas
💍 1918/6353

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas fitter
Domestic duties

27
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
21 years

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

6026

10 December 1918

Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Forest Mark Milne	Minnie Henrietta Thomas
BDM Match (96%)	David Forest Clark Milne	Minnie Henrietta Thomas
	💍 1918/6353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas fitter	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	6026
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

11 December 1918

Eric Lane Black
Florence Mary Hudson

Eric Lane Black
Florence Mary Hudson
💍 1918/6364

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Engineer
Shop Assistant

21
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6027

11 December 1918

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	11 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Lane Black	Florence Mary Hudson
	💍 1918/6364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Engineer	Shop Assistant
Age	21	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6027
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

12 December 1918

Samuel Knox
Gladys Hilda Hall

Samuel Knox
Gladys Hilda Hall
💍 1918/6371

Bachelor
Spinster

Threshing Miller
Domestic duties

39
28

Allenton
Hampstead

30 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

6028

12 December 1918

Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	12 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Knox	Gladys Hilda Hall
	💍 1918/6371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Threshing Miller	Domestic duties
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	6028
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

12 December 1918

Francis George Greenslade
Mary Ann Monson

Francis George Greenslade
Mary Ann Monson
💍 1918/6372

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
32

Tinwald
Allenton

5 years
32 years

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6029

12 December 1918

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	12 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Greenslade	Mary Ann Monson
	💍 1918/6372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Allenton
Length of Residence	5 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6029
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

12 December 1918

James Moore
Sarah Ann Sault

James Moore
Sarah Ann Sant
💍 1918/6373

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

39
38

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 days
10 days

At the dwelling of Samuel Jayne 25 Wellington Street Hampstead

6030

12 December 1918

Rev. C. S. Matthews Baptist

No	55
Date of Notice	12 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Moore	Sarah Ann Sault
BDM Match (93%)	James Moore	Sarah Ann Sant
	💍 1918/6373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 days	10 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Samuel Jayne 25 Wellington Street Hampstead
Folio	6030
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Matthews Baptist

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).