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 2223

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar G. H. Harris Deputy Registrar

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

27 May 1919

John Raymond Bayliss
May Johnston

John Raymond Bayliss
May Johnston
💍 1919/3806

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic

25
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

18 Days
4 years

Church of England, Greymouth

19/3793

27 May 1919

J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	27 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Raymond Bayliss	May Johnston
	💍 1919/3806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	18 Days	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	19/3793
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1919
Officiating Minister	J. A. Rogers, Church of England

28 May 1919

William Stewart Harris
Evelyn Jane Joseph

William Stewart Harris
Evelyn Jane Joseph
💍 1919/3807

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

27
18

Cobden
Runanga

7 years
8 years

Church of England, Runanga

19/3794

John Antonio Joseph, Father

28 May 1919

J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stewart Harris	Evelyn Jane Joseph
	💍 1919/3807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Runanga
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Runanga
Folio	19/3794
Consent	John Antonio Joseph, Father
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	J. A. Rogers, Church of England

9 June 1919

John Stuart Ross
Annie Martha Wilson

John Stuart Ross
Annie Martha Wilson
💍 1919/3809

Divorced 22-2-13
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic

50
35

Greymouth
Camerons

6 years
35 years

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

19/3795

9 June 1919

J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	9 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stuart Ross	Annie Martha Wilson
	💍 1919/3809
Condition	Divorced 22-2-13	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic
Age	50	35
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Camerons
Length of Residence	6 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	19/3795
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1919
Officiating Minister	J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

11 June 1919

James Caldwell
Edith Blank

James Caldwell
Edith Blank
💍 1919/3810

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

31 years
21 years

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

19/3796

11 June 1919

B. L. Quinn, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	11 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Caldwell	Edith Blank
	💍 1919/3810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	31 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	19/3796
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1919
Officiating Minister	B. L. Quinn, Roman Catholic

21 June 1919

James Leonard Saunders
Mary Alice Ord

James Leonard Saunders
Mary Alice Ord
💍 1919/3811

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic Servant

28
17

Aratika
Aratika

28 years
17 years

Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

19/3797

Thomas Davidson Ord, Father

21 June 1919

J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	21 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Leonard Saunders	Mary Alice Ord
	💍 1919/3811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic Servant
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Aratika	Aratika
Length of Residence	28 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	19/3797
Consent	Thomas Davidson Ord, Father
Date of Certificate	21 June 1919
Officiating Minister	J. W. Smyth, 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).