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 2334

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1919

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

156

14 March 1919

Waino Victor Sarelius
Sarah Jane Williamson

Waino Victor Sarelius
Sarah Jane Williamson
💍 1919/4142

Widower, May 4th 1918
Divorced, 13 March 1919

Masseur
Masseuse

37
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
3 weeks

St Michael's Church, Christchurch

851

14 March 1919

Rev. C. C. Perry, Anglican

No	156
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Waino Victor Sarelius	Sarah Jane Williamson
	💍 1919/4142
Condition	Widower, May 4th 1918	Divorced, 13 March 1919
Profession	Masseur	Masseuse
Age	37	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	851
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Perry, Anglican

157

14 March 1919

Lawrence Henry Powell
Jessie Raven

Lawrence Henry Powell
Jessie Raven
💍 1919/972

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Saleswoman

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
14 years

Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

858

14 March 1919

Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	157
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Henry Powell	Jessie Raven
	💍 1919/972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Saleswoman
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	858
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

158

14 March 1919

Allan Edward Norriss
Ivy Sarah Jane Askew

Allan Edward Norriss
Ivy Sarah Jane Askew
💍 1919/4124

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Dressmaker

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
6 years

Church of Christ, Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch

849

14 March 1919

Rev. J. K. Archer, Baptist

No	158
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Edward Norriss	Ivy Sarah Jane Askew
	💍 1919/4124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Dressmaker
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	849
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Archer, Baptist

159

14 March 1919

Leslie Hazel Hales
Ruby Richards

Leslie Hazel Hales
Ruby Richards
💍 1919/4135

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Clerk

27
22

Spreydon
Spreydon

27 years
2 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

850

14 March 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	159
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Hazel Hales	Ruby Richards
	💍 1919/4135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Clerk
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	850
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

160

15 March 1919

Waino Victor Sarelius
Sarah Jane Williamson

Waino Victor Sarelius
Sarah Jane Williamson
💍 1919/4142

Widower, May 4. 1918
Divorced, decree absolute dated March 13. 1919

Masseur
Masseuse

37
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

851

15 March 1919

Registrar

No	160
Date of Notice	15 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Waino Victor Sarelius	Sarah Jane Williamson
	💍 1919/4142
Condition	Widower, May 4. 1918	Divorced, decree absolute dated March 13. 1919
Profession	Masseur	Masseuse
Age	37	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	851
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).