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 1922

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar C. V. Cowie

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

15 April 1918

Charles Stewart Harris
Ethel May Bright

Charles Ewart Harris
Ethel May Bright
💍 1918/3631

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

27
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3018

Thomas Bright father of minor

15 April 1918

N. W. White Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	15 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stewart Harris	Ethel May Bright
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Ewart Harris	Ethel May Bright
	💍 1918/3631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3018
Consent	Thomas Bright father of minor
Date of Certificate	15 April 1918
Officiating Minister	N. W. White Registrar

13 April 1918

George Berry
Isabella Margaret Tilson

George Berry
Isabella Margaret Tilson
💍 1918/3632

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
26

Ashburton
Hinds

3 days
26 years

St Luke's Church of England Hinds

3019

13 April 1918

Rev J. F. Feron Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	13 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Berry	Isabella Margaret Tilson
	💍 1918/3632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hinds
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England Hinds
Folio	3019
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. Feron Church of England

18 April 1918

Frank David Hamilton
Grace Amelia Hook

Frank David Hamilton
Grace Amelia Hook
💍 1918/3634

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

35
26

Chertsey
Seafield

6 months
6 months

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

3020

18 April 1918

Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	18 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank David Hamilton	Grace Amelia Hook
	💍 1918/3634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Seafield
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	3020
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

22 April 1918

Alfred Vessey
Harriett May Hefford

Alfred Vessey
Harriett May Hefford
💍 1918/3635

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
General domestic duties

53
21

Hampstead
Ashburton

53 years
21 years

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

3021

22 April 1918

Rev George Miller Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	22 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Vessey	Harriett May Hefford
	💍 1918/3635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	General domestic duties
Age	53	21
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Ashburton
Length of Residence	53 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	3021
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev George Miller Presbyterian

26 April 1918

George Allison
Vera Francis Cowan

George Allison
Vera Francis Cowan
💍 1918/3636

Bachelor
Spinster

Lieutenant NZ Military Forces
Domestic duties

25
27

Trentham
Ashburton

1 month
9 years

St Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

3022

26 April 1918

Rev H. N. Wright Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	26 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Allison	Vera Francis Cowan
	💍 1918/3636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lieutenant NZ Military Forces	Domestic duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 month	9 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3022
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 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)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).