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 2161

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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

4 October 1919

John Francis McCabe
Winefride Mary Philomena Clarry

John Francis McCabe
Winefride Mary Philomena Clarry
💍 1919/4667

Bachelor
Spinster

Sharebroker
Lady

35
19

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
5 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

19/9028

Kathleen Gertrude Clarry, Mother

4 October 1919

Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	74
Date of Notice	4 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis McCabe	Winefride Mary Philomena Clarry
	💍 1919/4667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sharebroker	Lady
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9028
Consent	Kathleen Gertrude Clarry, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

8 October 1919

James Edward Cagney
Elizabeth Emily Newport

James Edward Cagney
Elizabeth Emily Newport
💍 1919/4668

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

30
19

Nelson
Stoke

3 days
1 month

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/9029

Bertha Newport, Mother

8 October 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	75
Date of Notice	8 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Cagney	Elizabeth Emily Newport
	💍 1919/4668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Stoke
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/9029
Consent	Bertha Newport, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

9 October 1919

William Thomson Simpson
Ida Louise Mason

William Thomson Simpson
Ida Louise Mason
💍 1919/4669

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Draper's Assistant

35
35

Nelson
Nelson

31 years
35 years

Dwelling of Thomas Charles Mason, Waimea Street, Nelson

19/9030

9 October 1919

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	76
Date of Notice	9 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomson Simpson	Ida Louise Mason
	💍 1919/4669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Draper's Assistant
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	31 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Charles Mason, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	19/9030
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

10 October 1919

Raymond Walter Russ
Vera Isabel Ching

Raymond Walter Russ
Vera Isabel Ching
💍 1919/4670

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman Education Dept.
Domestic Duties

29
23

Stoke
Stoke

5 days
23 years

Dwelling of Sarah Jane Ching, Stoke

19/9031

10 October 1919

Rev. W. Wills, Methodist

No	77
Date of Notice	10 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Walter Russ	Vera Isabel Ching
	💍 1919/4670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman Education Dept.	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Sarah Jane Ching, Stoke
Folio	19/9031
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wills, Methodist

10 October 1919

Alfred George Troughton
Ethel Bessie Minnie Prussing

Alfred George Troughton
Ethel Bessie Minnie Prussing
💍 1919/4671

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

29
24

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
14 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/9032

10 October 1919

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	10 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Troughton	Ethel Bessie Minnie Prussing
	💍 1919/4671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9032
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

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).