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 2312

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

27 January 1919

Thomas John Cusack
Evelyn Amelia Phoebe Myers

Thomas John Cusack
Evelyn Amelia Phoebe Meyers
💍 1919/1211

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Shop Assistant

26
21

Linwood
Linwood

4 months
5 months

St Marks Church Marshland

1715

27 January 1919

Rev. J. H. Curnow Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	27 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Cusack	Evelyn Amelia Phoebe Myers
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas John Cusack	Evelyn Amelia Phoebe Meyers
	💍 1919/1211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Shop Assistant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Marshland
Folio	1715
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Curnow Anglican

28 January 1919

Herbert Horace Nankivell
Clarice Muriel Priest

Herbert Horace Nankivell
Clarice Muriel Priest
💍 1919/906

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

21
21

Dallington
Linwood

14 years
16 years

Congregational Church Linwood

758

28 January 1919

Rev. H. A. Job Congregationalist

No	47
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Horace Nankivell	Clarice Muriel Priest
	💍 1919/906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Dallington	Linwood
Length of Residence	14 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Linwood
Folio	758
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job Congregationalist

28 January 1919

James McCartin
Myrtle McMaster Veronica Gordon

James McCartin
Myrtle McMaster Veronica Gordon
💍 1919/923

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers Assistant
Tailoress

27
24

Sydenham
Sydenham

12 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

751

28 January 1919

Rev. J. Long Roman Catholic

No	48
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCartin	Myrtle McMaster Veronica Gordon
	💍 1919/923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers Assistant	Tailoress
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	751
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long Roman Catholic

28 January 1919

James McCabe
Dorothy Lillias Balfour

James McCabe
Dorothy Lillias Balfour
💍 1919/924

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

24
22

St Albans
St Albans

3 months
3 months

Registrars Office Christchurch

752

28 January 1919

Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCabe	Dorothy Lillias Balfour
	💍 1919/924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	752
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

28 January 1919

Charles Page
Christina Josephine Stewart

Charles Page
Christina Josephine Stewart
💍 1919/925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 years

St Pauls Church Christchurch

753

28 January 1919

Rev. J. A. Brown Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Page	Christina Josephine Stewart
	💍 1919/925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church Christchurch
Folio	753
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown Presbyterian

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).