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 2155

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar S. Tyson

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

7 July 1919

Antonino Cappiello
Jessie Dalziell Walls

Antonio Cappiello
Jessie Dalziell Walls
💍 1919/6659

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Clerk

24
19

Nelson
Nelson

12 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

19/6142

Francis Garirn Walls, Father.

7 July 1919

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Antonino Cappiello	Jessie Dalziell Walls
BDM Match (97%)	Antonio Cappiello	Jessie Dalziell Walls
	💍 1919/6659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Clerk
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	19/6142
Consent	Francis Garirn Walls, Father.
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

8 July 1919

John William King
Emma Leonie Harvey

John William King
Emma Leonie Harvey
💍 1919/6660

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

39
24

Nelson
Nelson

8 months
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/6143

8 July 1919

Registrar of Marriages Mr. S. Tyson

No	46
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William King	Emma Leonie Harvey
	💍 1919/6660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/6143
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Mr. S. Tyson

9 July 1919

Albert Edward Johnston
Isabel Emily Oldershaw

Albert Edward Johnston
Isabel Emily Oldershaw
💍 1919/6661

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
29

Nelson
Nelson

18 months
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

19/6144

9 July 1919

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	9 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Johnston	Isabel Emily Oldershaw
	💍 1919/6661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	18 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	19/6144
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

9 July 1919

Thomas Houlker
Doris Kathleen Bisley

Thomas Houeker
Doris Kathleen Bisley
💍 1919/6663

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer of Fruit Products
Domestic Duties

37
27

Nelson
Nelson

33 years
27 years

Christ church Cathedral, Nelson

19/6145

9 July 1919

Very Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	9 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Houlker	Doris Kathleen Bisley
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Houeker	Doris Kathleen Bisley
	💍 1919/6663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer of Fruit Products	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	33 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Christ church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	19/6145
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

17 July 1919

Charles Gordon Stuart
Lilian Shallcrass Bogle

Charles Gordon Stuart
Lilian Shallcrass Bogle
💍 1919/6664

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Milliner

24
25

Nelson
Nelson

4 months
25 years

Congregational Church, Nelson

19/6146

17 July 1919

Rev. C. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gordon Stuart	Lilian Shallcrass Bogle
	💍 1919/6664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Milliner
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Nelson
Folio	19/6146
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. D. Patchett, Methodist

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).