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 2239

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 December 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

31 October 1919

William Alexander Wilson
Mary Fremlin Carley

William Alexander Wilson
Mary Fremlin Carley
💍 1919/9330

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

32
31

Hokitika
Hokitika

32 years
16 years

All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika

9094

31 October 1919

Rev Dr John E. Holloway, Anglican

No	27
Date of Notice	31 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Wilson	Mary Fremlin Carley
	💍 1919/9330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	32 years	16 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika
Folio	9094
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr John E. Holloway, Anglican

19 November 1919

Donald Buchanan
Ellen Elizabeth Good

Donald Buchanan
Ellen Elizabeth Good
💍 1919/9332

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

36
36

Hokitika
Hokitika

9 months
life time

Bride's residence Bealey st. Hokitika

9095

19 November 1919

Rev P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Buchanan	Ellen Elizabeth Good
	💍 1919/9332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	9 months	life time
Marriage Place	Bride's residence Bealey st. Hokitika
Folio	9095
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian

26 November 1919

John Horan
Emma Margaret Mary Harvey

John Horan
Emma Margaret Mary Harvey
💍 1919/9333

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Clerk

38
33

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
33 years

St Marys Roman Catholic Church Hokitika

9096

26 November 1919

Rev John D. Clancy, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	26 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Horan	Emma Margaret Mary Harvey
	💍 1919/9333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Clerk
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Roman Catholic Church Hokitika
Folio	9096
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John D. Clancy, Roman Catholic

4 December 1919

James Grant
Louise Mary Henderson

James Grant
Louise Mary Henderson
💍 1919/9334

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

26
24

Hokitika
Hokitika

4 years
24 years

All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika

9097

4 December 1919

Rev Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Grant	Louise Mary Henderson
	💍 1919/9334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika
Folio	9097
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

5 December 1919

Leslie Francis Walton
Alice Dorinda Dando

Leslie Francis Walton
Alice Dorinda Dando
💍 1919/9335

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

23
18

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Methodist Church Hokitika

9098

Jessie Dando Mother

5 December 1919

Mr G. H. Bridgman, Methodist

No	31
Date of Notice	5 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Francis Walton	Alice Dorinda Dando
	💍 1919/9335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Hokitika
Folio	9098
Consent	Jessie Dando Mother
Date of Certificate	5 December 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).