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 2288

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

1 June 1919

Frederick George Hayward
Edith Mayo Hurst

Frederick George Hayward
Edith Mayo Hunt
💍 1919/4957

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

25
24

Greenstreet
Greenstreet

3 days
20 years

at the dwelling of Henry Hurst Greenstreet

4139

1 June 1919

Rev. A. J. Petrie Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	1 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Hayward	Edith Mayo Hurst
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick George Hayward	Edith Mayo Hunt
	💍 1919/4957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Greenstreet	Greenstreet
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Henry Hurst Greenstreet
Folio	4139
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Petrie Church of England

4 June 1919

Clarence Robert Forey
Rose Hewson

Clarence Robert Tovey
Rose Hewson
💍 1919/3944

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
domestic duties

33
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 weeks
28 years

Church of England Ashburton

3832

4 June 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Robert Forey	Rose Hewson
BDM Match (95%)	Clarence Robert Tovey	Rose Hewson
	💍 1919/3944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	domestic duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 weeks	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3832
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

4 June 1919

John Shearer
Sarah Kennedy

John Shearer
Sarah Kennedy
💍 1919/3945

Widower 27-4-17
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

67
34

Ashburton Forks
Ashburton Forks

12 years
18 years

at the dwelling of Daniel McIntyre Ashburton

3833

4 June 1919

Rev. Daniel McIntyre Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shearer	Sarah Kennedy
	💍 1919/3945
Condition	Widower 27-4-17	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	67	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton Forks	Ashburton Forks
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Daniel McIntyre Ashburton
Folio	3833
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel McIntyre Presbyterian

6 June 1919

Archibald McMillan
Ann MacKinnon

Archibald McMillan
Ann MacKinnon
💍 1919/2331

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
domestic duties

43
41

Hampstead
Christchurch

9 years
6 years

at the dwelling of Rev. J. K. Archer Sydenham

2187

6 June 1919

Rev. J. K. Archer Baptist

No	29
Date of Notice	6 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald McMillan	Ann MacKinnon
	💍 1919/2331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	domestic duties
Age	43	41
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Rev. J. K. Archer Sydenham
Folio	2187
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Archer Baptist

7 June 1919

Frank Bull
Janet Mary Eadie

Frank Bull
Janet Mary Eadie
💍 1919/3946

Widower 21-8-16
Widow 25-6-16

labourer
domestic duties

52
34

Hampstead
Hampstead

3 years
12 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3834

7 June 1919

W. W. White Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	7 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Bull	Janet Mary Eadie
	💍 1919/3946
Condition	Widower 21-8-16	Widow 25-6-16
Profession	labourer	domestic duties
Age	52	34
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3834
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White 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).