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 2300

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar L. W. A. Lou

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

22 November 1919

Philip Edward Butler
Honora Mary Hannigan

Philip Edward Butler
Honora Mary Hannigan
💍 1919/9390

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic duties

25
21

Allenton
Allenton

8 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

9130

22 November 1919

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	76
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Edward Butler	Honora Mary Hannigan
	💍 1919/9390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	9130
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

22 November 1919

John Prendergast
Mary Elizabeth Connolly

John Prendergast
Mary Elizabeth Connolly
💍 1919/9391

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
22

Eiffelton
Spreadeagle

31 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

9131

22 November 1919

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	77
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Prendergast	Mary Elizabeth Connolly
	💍 1919/9391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Spreadeagle
Length of Residence	31 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	9131
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

24 November 1919

Roderick Ross
Margaret Ann Hannigan

Roderick Ross
Margaret Ann Hannigan
💍 1919/9392

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterside Worker
Dressmaker

27
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

9132

24 November 1919

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	78
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Ross	Margaret Ann Hannigan
	💍 1919/9392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterside Worker	Dressmaker
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	9132
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

25 November 1919

Patrick Loftus
Bridget Davey

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

29 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

N.S. see attached

Michael Francis Davey, father of minor

25 November 1919

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	79
Date of Notice	25 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Loftus	Bridget Davey
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	N.S. see attached
Consent	Michael Francis Davey, father of minor
Date of Certificate	25 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

1 December 1919

Herbert Henry Clifford Preston
Elizabeth Welsh Kilgour Houston

Herbert Henry Clifford Preston
Elizabeth Welsh Kilgour Houston
💍 1919/9393

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic duties

23
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 months
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

9133

1 December 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Clifford Preston	Elizabeth Welsh Kilgour Houston
	💍 1919/9393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	9133
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, 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).