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 2163

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

20 October 1919

Leonard John Wollstein
Flora Jane Agnes Foster

Leonard John Wollstein
Flora Jane Agnes Coster
💍 1919/4652

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

42
41

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
10 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/9037

20 October 1919

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	84
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Wollstein	Flora Jane Agnes Foster
BDM Match (98%)	Leonard John Wollstein	Flora Jane Agnes Coster
	💍 1919/4652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	41
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9037
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

28 October 1919

Henry Papps
Florence Etta Mercer

Henry Papps
Florence Etta Mercer
💍 1919/4653

Widower (29th April 1912)
Spinster

Wheelwright
Domestic Duties

40
26

Richmond
Nelson

30 years
24 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/9038

28 October 1919

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	85
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Papps	Florence Etta Mercer
	💍 1919/4653
Condition	Widower (29th April 1912)	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Domestic Duties
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Nelson
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9038
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

29 October 1919

Roderick Charles Hannam
Kathleen May Gough

Roderick Charles Hannam
Kathleen May Gough
💍 1919/4654

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Weaver

19
21

Nelson
Nelson

9 days
9 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/9039

Charlotte Matilda Hannam, Mother

29 October 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	86
Date of Notice	29 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Charles Hannam	Kathleen May Gough
	💍 1919/4654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Weaver
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/9039
Consent	Charlotte Matilda Hannam, Mother
Date of Certificate	29 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

30 October 1919

Lawrence Franklin Kitt
Pearl Dawson

Lawrence Franklin Kitt
Pearl Dawson
💍 1919/4655

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Clerk

27
26

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
2 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson

19/9040

30 October 1919

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	87
Date of Notice	30 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Franklin Kitt	Pearl Dawson
	💍 1919/4655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Clerk
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9040
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

18 November 1919

James Benjamin Boyd
Lucy Eileen Westley

James Benjamin Boyd
Lucy Eileen Westley
💍 1919/4656

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
21 years

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

19/9041

18 November 1919

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	88
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Benjamin Boyd	Lucy Eileen Westley
	💍 1919/4656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	19/9041
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, 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).