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 2231

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar A. H. Stuart

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

6 January 1919

Andrew Henderson
Mary Ann Curtain

Andrew Henderson
Mary Ann Curtain
💍 1919/1702

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic Duties

25
23

Mahinapua
Ruatapu.

25 years
6 months.

Residence of Mrs Margaret Henderson. Gibson Quay, Hokitika.

1432

6 January 1919

Rev P. B. Fraser. Presbyterian.

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Henderson	Mary Ann Curtain
	💍 1919/1702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Mahinapua	Ruatapu.
Length of Residence	25 years	6 months.
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Margaret Henderson. Gibson Quay, Hokitika.
Folio	1432
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. B. Fraser. Presbyterian.

16 January 1919

Edmund Morris.
Annie Owens.

Edmund Morris
Annie Owens
💍 1919/1703

Bachelor.
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

30
27

Kanieri.
Kanieri.

30 Years
27 years

House of Mrs Tammilenni Kanieri.

1433

16 January 1919

Rev John D. Clancy. Roman Catholic.

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Morris.	Annie Owens.
BDM Match (92%)	Edmund Morris	Annie Owens
	💍 1919/1703
Condition	Bachelor.	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Kanieri.	Kanieri.
Length of Residence	30 Years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Tammilenni Kanieri.
Folio	1433
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John D. Clancy. Roman Catholic.

17 February 1919

Richard Sweetman.
Ivy Stenhouse.

Bachelor.
Spinster

Grocers Assistant.
General Servant

29
27

Usual Greymouth Present Hokitika.
Usual Greymouth. Present Hokitika.

4 days
2 weeks.

Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Hokitika.

1434

17 February 1919

Rev John D. Clancy. Roman Catholic.

No	3
Date of Notice	17 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Sweetman.	Ivy Stenhouse.
Condition	Bachelor.	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant.	General Servant
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Usual Greymouth Present Hokitika.	Usual Greymouth. Present Hokitika.
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks.
Marriage Place	Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Hokitika.
Folio	1434
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John D. Clancy. Roman Catholic.

15 March 1919

Thomas Wells.
Victoria Grace McMillan.

Thomas Wells
Victoria Grace McMillan
💍 1919/1680

Bachelor.
Spinster.

Sawmill Hand.
Domestic Services.

37.
21.

Woodstock
Kanieri.

37 years.
21 years.

All Saints' Anglican Church, Hokitika.

1435

15 March 1919

Dr. John E. Holloway. Church of England.

No	4
Date of Notice	15 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wells.	Victoria Grace McMillan.
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Wells	Victoria Grace McMillan
	💍 1919/1680
Condition	Bachelor.	Spinster.
Profession	Sawmill Hand.	Domestic Services.
Age	37.	21.
Dwelling Place	Woodstock	Kanieri.
Length of Residence	37 years.	21 years.
Marriage Place	All Saints' Anglican Church, Hokitika.
Folio	1435
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Dr. John E. Holloway. Church of England.

19 March 1919

John Boyle.
Lottie May Palfrey.

John Boyle
Lottie May Palfrey
💍 1919/1681

Bachelor.
Spinster.

Miner.
Domestic Service.

38.
25.

Usual Reefton. Present Hokitika.
Usual Reefton. Present Hokitika.

3 days.
9 days.

Residence of H. Eatwell, Sale Street, Hokitika.

1436

19 March 1919

Mr. G. H. Bridgman. Methodist.

No	5
Date of Notice	19 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boyle.	Lottie May Palfrey.
BDM Match (93%)	John Boyle	Lottie May Palfrey
	💍 1919/1681
Condition	Bachelor.	Spinster.
Profession	Miner.	Domestic Service.
Age	38.	25.
Dwelling Place	Usual Reefton. Present Hokitika.	Usual Reefton. Present Hokitika.
Length of Residence	3 days.	9 days.
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Eatwell, Sale Street, Hokitika.
Folio	1436
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. H. Bridgman. 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).