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 2073

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. C. Malf

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

5 July 1919

James Harold Hands
Letitia Myrtle Hopgood

James Harold Hands
Letitia Myrtle Hopgood
💍 1919/6651

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

21
21

Cape Foulwind
Cape Foulwind

6 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

19/6126

5 July 1919

Rt. Rev. Mons. Walshe, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	5 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harold Hands	Letitia Myrtle Hopgood
	💍 1919/6651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Cape Foulwind	Cape Foulwind
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	19/6126
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. Mons. Walshe, Roman Catholic

24 July 1919

James Phibbs
Margaret Black

James Phibbs
Margaret Black
💍 1919/6662

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

23
23

Westport
Westport

23 years
20 years

Residence of Y. M. Black, 19 Bright Street, Westport

19/6127

24 July 1919

Rt. Rev. Mons. T. Walshe, Roman Catholic

No	19
Date of Notice	24 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Phibbs	Margaret Black
	💍 1919/6662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Y. M. Black, 19 Bright Street, Westport
Folio	19/6127
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. Mons. T. Walshe, Roman Catholic

9 August 1919

Roy Spencer Snow
Roseann McLaughlin

Roy Spencer Snow
Roseann McLaughlin
💍 1919/7149

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Dressmaker

22
24

Westport
Westport

3 years
24 years

Residence of Mr. Hugh McLaughlin, Westport

19/6651

9 August 1919

Rt. Rev. Mons. T. Walshe, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	9 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Spencer Snow	Roseann McLaughlin
	💍 1919/7149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Dressmaker
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hugh McLaughlin, Westport
Folio	19/6651
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. Mons. T. Walshe, Roman Catholic

15 August 1919

Frank Harder
Martha Taylor

Frank Harder
Martha Taylor
💍 1919/6669

Bachelor
Widow (6/8/11)

Farmer
Hotelkeeper

28
36

Westport
Westport

5 months
9 years

Residence of Mr. Robt Patterson, Palmerston Street, Westport

19/6128

15 August 1919

Rev. J. T. Cowsey, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	15 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Harder	Martha Taylor
	💍 1919/6669
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (6/8/11)
Profession	Farmer	Hotelkeeper
Age	28	36
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	5 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Robt Patterson, Palmerston Street, Westport
Folio	19/6128
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Cowsey, Church of England

19 August 1919

Samuel John Borlase
Emma Cora Gladys Dobson

Samuel John Borlase
Emma Cora Gladys Dobson
💍 1919/6670

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's carter
Domestic duties

23
23

Westport
Westport

7 years
12 years

The Presbyterian Manse, Wakefield Street, Westport

19/6129

19 August 1919

Rev. Alex. Miller, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Borlase	Emma Cora Gladys Dobson
	💍 1919/6670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's carter	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Wakefield Street, Westport
Folio	19/6129
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex. 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).