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 2237

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 September 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

8 July 1919

John McVicar
Margaret Shannon

John McVicar
Margaret Shannon
💍 1919/6714

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

38
26

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 years
2 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika

6197

8 July 1919

Rev. John D. Clancy, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McVicar	Margaret Shannon
	💍 1919/6714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	6197
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John D. Clancy, Roman Catholic

24 July 1919

Richard McGowan Mulholland
Martha McCormick

Richard McGowan Mulholland
Martha McCormick
💍 1919/6715

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
42

Kokatahi
Kokatahi

37 years
25 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika

6198

24 July 1919

Rev. John D. Clancy, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	24 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard McGowan Mulholland	Martha McCormick
	💍 1919/6715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	42
Dwelling Place	Kokatahi	Kokatahi
Length of Residence	37 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	6198
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John D. Clancy, Roman Catholic

29 August 1919

Charles Walter Harding
Euphemia Watson

Charles Walter Harding
Euphemia Watson
💍 1919/6716

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

37
34

Hokitika
Hokitika

37 years
31 years

Methodist Parsonage, Hokitika

6199

29 August 1919

Mr. G. H. Bridgman, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	29 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Walter Harding	Euphemia Watson
	💍 1919/6716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	37 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Hokitika
Folio	6199
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. H. Bridgman, Methodist

18 September 1919

Thomas Muir
Mary Bradley

Thomas Muir
Mary Bradley
💍 1919/6717

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Three Mile
Arahura

6 months
25 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

6200

18 September 1919

Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Muir	Mary Bradley
	💍 1919/6717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Three Mile	Arahura
Length of Residence	6 months	25 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	6200
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway, Church of England

18 September 1919

Patrick Joseph Keenan
Margaret Lydia Free

Patrick Joseph Keenan
Margaret Lydia Free
💍 1919/6725

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic service

32
30

Rimu
Woodstock

32 years
1 year

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

6201

18 September 1919

Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Keenan	Margaret Lydia Free
	💍 1919/6725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic service
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Rimu	Woodstock
Length of Residence	32 years	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	6201
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway, 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).