Intentions to Marry, 1919 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840485, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919e contains pages 2001-2520, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2007

District of Kaikoura Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar Geo. W. Johnson

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

1 October 1919

Glenburn Edmund David Palmer
Clara Boyd

Glenburn Edmund David Palmer
Clara Boyd
💍 1919/9235

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

23
28

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

18 Months
28 Years

Registrar's Office Kaikoura

8370

1 October 1919

George Graham Johnson Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Glenburn Edmund David Palmer	Clara Boyd
	💍 1919/9235
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	18 Months	28 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Kaikoura
Folio	8370
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	George Graham Johnson Registrar

6 October 1919

Theodore Joseph Charles Schroder
Mary Wynne

Theodore Charles Schroder
Mary McInnes
💍 1919/9236

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
21

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

33 Years
21 Years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Kaikoura

8371

6 October 1919

Rev. Edmund Thomas King Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Joseph Charles Schroder	Mary Wynne
BDM Match (72%)	Theodore Charles Schroder	Mary McInnes
	💍 1919/9236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	33 Years	21 Years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Kaikoura
Folio	8371
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edmund Thomas King Presbyterian

20 October 1919

John Richard Wallace
Isabella Rebecca Shields

John Richard Wallace
Isabella Rebecca Shields
💍 1919/9237

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic

41
22

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

4 Days
1 1/2 Years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Kaikoura

8372

20 October 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Wallace	Isabella Rebecca Shields
	💍 1919/9237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	4 Days	1 1/2 Years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Kaikoura
Folio	8372
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb Presbyterian

25 October 1919

Archibald Sutherland
Emily Louise Grady

Archibald Sutherland
Emily Louise Grady
💍 1919/9238

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

43
34

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

18 Years
9 Months

Sacred Heart Catholic Church Kaikoura Suburban

8373

25 October 1919

Rev. J. Kelly Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	25 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Sutherland	Emily Louise Grady
	💍 1919/9238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	18 Years	9 Months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Catholic Church Kaikoura Suburban
Folio	8373
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kelly Catholic

17 December 1919

Albert John Boyd
Vicars Christina Schroder

Albert John Boyd
Vicars Christina Schroder
💍 1919/9246

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
21

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

5 Days
21 Years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Kaikoura

8374

17 December 1919

Rev. Ronald Miller Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	17 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Boyd	Vicars Christina Schroder
	💍 1919/9246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	5 Days	21 Years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Kaikoura
Folio	8374
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ronald 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).