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 2067

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. C. Dale

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

21 January 1919

William James Donaldson
Annie Kathleen Sorensen

William James Donaldson
Annie Kathleen Sorensen
💍 1919/1209

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

31
29

Westport
Westport

3 days
2 months

Residence of Frederick Sorensen, 95 Romilly Street, Westport

19/1713

21 January 1919

Richard Hegarty, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	21 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Donaldson	Annie Kathleen Sorensen
	💍 1919/1209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Frederick Sorensen, 95 Romilly Street, Westport
Folio	19/1713
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Richard Hegarty, Roman Catholic

3 February 1919

Roderick James Griffiths
Louisa Euphemia Tinetti

Roderick James Griffiths
Lousia Euphemia Tinetti
💍 1919/1619

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
22

Birchfield
Waimangaroa

25 years
11 years

Residence of James Griffiths, Birchfield

19/1371

3 February 1919

F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick James Griffiths	Louisa Euphemia Tinetti
BDM Match (96%)	Roderick James Griffiths	Lousia Euphemia Tinetti
	💍 1919/1619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Birchfield	Waimangaroa
Length of Residence	25 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Griffiths, Birchfield
Folio	19/1371
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1919
Officiating Minister	F. A. Tooley, Church of England

19 February 1919

Walter Baxter Ramsay
Alfreda Correna Ferguson

Walter Baxter Ramsay
Alfreda Correna Ferguson
💍 1919/1620

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman N.B.R.
Waitress

21
20

Westport
Westport

2 years
20 years

Church of England, Westport

19/1372

Alfred Ernest Ferguson, Father

19 February 1919

J. T. Coursey, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Baxter Ramsay	Alfreda Correna Ferguson
	💍 1919/1620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman N.B.R.	Waitress
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	19/1372
Consent	Alfred Ernest Ferguson, Father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	J. T. Coursey, Church of England

7 March 1919

Cecil Andrew Herring
Ruth Elizabeth Hunt

Cecil Andrew Herring
Ruth Elizabeth Hunt
💍 1919/1621

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
20

Westport
Westport

Lifetime
Since birth

Registrar's Office, Westport

19/1373

Fanny Hunt, Mother

7 March 1919

J. C. Dale, Registrar, Westport

No	4
Date of Notice	7 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Andrew Herring	Ruth Elizabeth Hunt
	💍 1919/1621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	Lifetime	Since birth
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport
Folio	19/1373
Consent	Fanny Hunt, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 March 1919
Officiating Minister	J. C. Dale, Registrar, Westport

28 March 1919

George Blythe
Elizabeth Ann Jones

George Blythe
Elizabeth Ann Jones
💍 1919/1622

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

28
21

Westport
Westport

3 days
14 years

Residence of Mr. Edward Jones, Lower Derby St., Westport

19/1374

28 March 1919

A. Miller, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	28 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Blythe	Elizabeth Ann Jones
	💍 1919/1622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Edward Jones, Lower Derby St., Westport
Folio	19/1374
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1919
Officiating Minister	A. Miller, Presbyterian

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).