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 2289

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar W. W. White

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

9 June 1919

Thomas Robert Arthur Meaclem
Agnes Greta Walker

Thomas Robert Arthur Meaclem
Agnes Greta Walker
💍 1919/3923

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
23

Hampstead
Tinwald

20 years
4 years

At the dwelling of T. Meaclem, Winters Road, Allenton

3835

Thomas John Meaclem, father of Minor

9 June 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	9 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Arthur Meaclem	Agnes Greta Walker
	💍 1919/3923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Tinwald
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of T. Meaclem, Winters Road, Allenton
Folio	3835
Consent	Thomas John Meaclem, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	9 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

10 June 1919

James Nicolson
Evelyn Maud Gray

James Nicolson
Evelyn Maude Gray
💍 1919/3924

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
21

Mayfield
Allenton

2 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

3836

10 June 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	10 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nicolson	Evelyn Maud Gray
BDM Match (97%)	James Nicolson	Evelyn Maude Gray
	💍 1919/3924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Allenton
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	3836
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

12 June 1919

James Duncan McGregor
Doris Maud Thompson

James Duncan McGregor
Doris Maud Thompson
💍 1919/3925

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier
Domestic duties

30
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

3837

William George Thompson, father of Minor

12 June 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	12 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Duncan McGregor	Doris Maud Thompson
	💍 1919/3925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier	Domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	3837
Consent	William George Thompson, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	12 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

18 June 1919

James McQuilken
Annie Jane March

James McQuilken
Annie Jane March
💍 1919/3926

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

32
24

Longbeach
Waterton

1 year
24 years

Methodist Church, Waterton

3838

18 June 1919

Rev. S. Bailey, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	18 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McQuilken	Annie Jane March
	💍 1919/3926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Waterton
Length of Residence	1 year	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Waterton
Folio	3838
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Bailey, Methodist

21 June 1919

William Ward Williams
Mary Ann Roberts

William Ward Williams
Mary Ann Roberts
💍 1919/3927

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

60
48

Ashburton
Ashburton

40 years
48 years

At the dwelling of W. W. Williams, 127 Moore Street, Ashburton

3839

21 June 1919

Captain H. Hawkes, Salvation Army

No	35
Date of Notice	21 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ward Williams	Mary Ann Roberts
	💍 1919/3927
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	60	48
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	40 years	48 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of W. W. Williams, 127 Moore Street, Ashburton
Folio	3839
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Captain H. Hawkes, Salvation Army

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).