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 1918

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. W. Bowden

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

4 March 1918

David James Turnbull
Eliza Hinckle

David James Turnbull
Eliza Muckle
💍 1918/1907

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

28
30

Lowcliffe
Dorie

14 months
30 years

Presbyterian Church Rakaia

1368

9 March 1918

Rev A. S. Morrison, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	4 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David James Turnbull	Eliza Hinckle
BDM Match (88%)	David James Turnbull	Eliza Muckle
	💍 1918/1907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Dorie
Length of Residence	14 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Rakaia
Folio	1368
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. S. Morrison, Presbyterian

13 March 1918

Percival John Cooper Jessop
Rita Maud Grigg

Percival John Cooper Jessep
Rita Maud Grigg
💍 1918/1937

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

24
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
2 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

1347

13 March 1918

Rev. George Frost, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	13 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival John Cooper Jessop	Rita Maud Grigg
BDM Match (98%)	Percival John Cooper Jessep	Rita Maud Grigg
	💍 1918/1937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	1347
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Frost, Methodist

16 March 1918

Charles Williams
Ivy Elizabeth Young

Charles Williams
Ivy Elizabeth Young
💍 1918/1938

Widower 30/8/1917
Spinster

Saddler
domestic duties

37
19

Hinds
Hinds

6 years
2 years

Church of England Hinds

1348

William Young, father of Minor

16 March 1918

Rev. J. F. Feron, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	16 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Williams	Ivy Elizabeth Young
	💍 1918/1938
Condition	Widower 30/8/1917	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	domestic duties
Age	37	19
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Hinds
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hinds
Folio	1348
Consent	William Young, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	16 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Feron, Church of England

19 March 1918

Leonard Macale
Martha Flynn

Leonard Macale
Martha Glynn
💍 1918/1939

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

32
27

Lowcliffe
Lowcliffe

3 years
4 years

Church of England Ashburton

1349

19 March 1918

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	19 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Macale	Martha Flynn
BDM Match (96%)	Leonard Macale	Martha Glynn
	💍 1918/1939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Lowcliffe
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	1349
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

20 March 1918

David Albert Johnson
Elizabeth Walker Campbell

David Albert Johnson
Elizabeth Walker Campbell
💍 1918/1940

Bachelor
Spinster

Pelt Classer
domestic duties

29
28

Ashburton
Allenton

29 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

1350

20 March 1918

Rev George Miller, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	20 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Albert Johnson	Elizabeth Walker Campbell
	💍 1918/1940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pelt Classer	domestic duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	29 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	1350
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev George Miller, Presbyterian

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).