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 2308

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

16 January 1919

Walter Marsden
Jessie May Williams

Walter Marsden
Jessie May Williams
💍 1919/904

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer
Salvation Army Officer

22
25

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
16 days

Salvation Army Hall, Sydenham

732

16 January 1919

Major E G Newby, Salvation Army

No	26
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Marsden	Jessie May Williams
	💍 1919/904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer	Salvation Army Officer
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	16 days
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Sydenham
Folio	732
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Major E G Newby, Salvation Army

17 January 1919

John Charles Grainger
Charlotte Rogers

John Charles Grainger
Charlotte Rogers
💍 1919/881

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

27
24

Papanui
Papanui

1 day
4 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

733

17 January 1919

Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Grainger	Charlotte Rogers
	💍 1919/881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	1 day	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	733
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

17 January 1919

Edwin Vivian Green
Ivy May Stanley

Edwin Vivian Green
Ivy May Stanley
💍 1919/882

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

22
25

Fendalton
Harewood

12 years
25 years

St James' Church, Harewood

734

17 January 1919

Rev W H Orbell, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Vivian Green	Ivy May Stanley
	💍 1919/882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Harewood
Length of Residence	12 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St James' Church, Harewood
Folio	734
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W H Orbell, Anglican

17 January 1919

Walter Harper
Sibella Euphemia Ross

Walter Harper
Sibella Euphemia Ross
💍 1919/883

Widower
Spinster

Retired Clergyman 27.9.1880

71
57

Christchurch
Christchurch

37 years
37 years

Church of St John the Baptist Christchurch

735

17 January 1919

Rev P J Cocks, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Harper	Sibella Euphemia Ross
	💍 1919/883
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired Clergyman 27.9.1880
Age	71	57
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	37 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Church of St John the Baptist Christchurch
Folio	735
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P J Cocks, Anglican

17 January 1919

Herbert Best
Eda Madeline Carlson

Herbert Best
Eda Madeline Carlson
💍 1919/884

Bachelor
Spinster

Seedsman

27
19

Opawa
Linwood

27 years
5 years

Residence of Mr Carlson, 451 Gloucester St Linwood

736

Andrew Carlson, Father

17 January 1919

Rev J Copeland, Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Best	Eda Madeline Carlson
	💍 1919/884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seedsman
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Linwood
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Carlson, 451 Gloucester St Linwood
Folio	736
Consent	Andrew Carlson, Father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J Copeland, 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).