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 2225

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. McIndoe

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 July 1919

John William Dick McKnight
Alice Helen White

John William Dick McKnight
Alice Helen White
💍 1919/6705

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

25
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

21 years
25 years

Church of England, Greymouth

19/6188

4 July 1919

J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	4 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Dick McKnight	Alice Helen White
	💍 1919/6705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	21 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	19/6188
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. A. Rogers, Church of England

12 July 1919

Charles Herbert Nailer
Catherine Polinia Lanini

Charles Herbert Nailer
Catherine Polinia Lanini
💍 1919/6706

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic

29
21

Paroa
Paroa

4 years
2 years 7 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

19/6189

12 July 1919

Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

No	35
Date of Notice	12 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Nailer	Catherine Polinia Lanini
	💍 1919/6706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Paroa	Paroa
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years 7 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	19/6189
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

25 July 1919

John McGirr
Elizabeth Steel

John McGirr
Elizabeth Steel
💍 1919/6707

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

28
28

Greymouth
Greymouth

28 years
9 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

19/6190

25 July 1919

P. Aubry, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGirr	Elizabeth Steel
	💍 1919/6707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	28 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	19/6190
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	P. Aubry, Roman Catholic

26 July 1919

Eugene Thomas Wilson
Victoria Marion Osborne

Eugene Thomas Wilson
Victoria Marion Osborne
💍 1919/6708

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
22

Cobden
Cobden

6 weeks
15 months

Cobden Hotel, Cobden

19/6191

26 July 1919

J. W. Bloyce, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	26 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Thomas Wilson	Victoria Marion Osborne
	💍 1919/6708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Cobden
Length of Residence	6 weeks	15 months
Marriage Place	Cobden Hotel, Cobden
Folio	19/6191
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. W. Bloyce, Church of England

4 August 1919

Ernest Fletcher
Florence Gertrude Muir

Ernest Fletcher
Florence Gertrude Muir
💍 1919/6709

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

30
28

Greymouth
Kaiata

6 years
28 years

Methodist Parsonage, Greymouth

19/6192

4 August 1919

T. J. Wallis, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Fletcher	Florence Gertrude Muir
	💍 1919/6709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Kaiata
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Greymouth
Folio	19/6192
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	T. J. Wallis, 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).