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 1924

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar A. R. 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

8 June 1918

George Robert Tilson
Henrietta Annie Bolton

George Robert Tilson
Henrietta Annie Bolton
💍 1918/3665

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
18

Hinds
Mayfield

32 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church Mayfield

3028

Isaac Bolton father of minor

8 June 1918

Rev. J. Johnston Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	8 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Tilson	Henrietta Annie Bolton
	💍 1918/3665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Mayfield
Length of Residence	32 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mayfield
Folio	3028
Consent	Isaac Bolton father of minor
Date of Certificate	8 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Johnston Presbyterian

15 June 1918

Edwin John Smith
Annie Georgina Shaw

Edwin John Smith
Annie Georgina Shaw
💍 1918/3666

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

55
41

Tinwald
Ashburton

38 years
38 years

At the dwelling of Annie Georgina Shaw Ashburton

3029

15 June 1918

Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	15 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin John Smith	Annie Georgina Shaw
	💍 1918/3666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	55	41
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	38 years	38 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Annie Georgina Shaw Ashburton
Folio	3029
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

19 June 1918

Francis Thomas Claydon
Isabella Elizabeth Robe Burgess

Francis Thomas Claydon
Isabella Elizabeth Robe Burgess
💍 1918/3667

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
9 months

At the dwelling of James Burgess Ashburton

3030

19 June 1918

Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	19 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas Claydon	Isabella Elizabeth Robe Burgess
	💍 1918/3667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	9 months
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of James Burgess Ashburton
Folio	3030
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

22 June 1918

William Leary
Catherine Murphy

William Leary
Catherine Murphy
💍 1918/3881

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

19
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

3250

Cornelius Leary father of minor

26 June 1918

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	22 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leary	Catherine Murphy
	💍 1918/3881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	3250
Consent	Cornelius Leary father of minor
Date of Certificate	26 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

27 June 1918

Joseph Edward Henry McAleer
Evelyn Millicent Coldicott

Joseph Edward Henry McAleer
Evelyn Millicent Coldicott
💍 1918/3668

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Weaver

25
21

Ashburton
Trevorton

6 months
21 years

Church of England Ashburton

3031

27 June 1918

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	27 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Henry McAleer	Evelyn Millicent Coldicott
	💍 1918/3668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Weaver
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Trevorton
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3031
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

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).