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 2286

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar F. W. Hewitt

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

28 April 1919

Peter Charles Connelly
Agnes Prendergast

Peter Charles Connelly
Agnes Prendergast
💍 1919/3880

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

36
20

Spread Eagle
Eiffelton

36 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

3817

James Prendergast father of Minor.

28 April 1919

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Charles Connelly	Agnes Prendergast
	💍 1919/3880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Spread Eagle	Eiffelton
Length of Residence	36 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	3817
Consent	James Prendergast father of Minor.
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

28 April 1919

Thomas Hockings
Daisy Elizabeth Jennie Reeves

Thomas Hockings
Daisy Elizabeth Jennie Reeves
💍 1919/3881

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
domestic duties

22
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 months
22 years

the dwelling of Henry Reeves Moore Street Ashburton

3818

28 April 1919

Mr James Belshaw Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hockings	Daisy Elizabeth Jennie Reeves
	💍 1919/3881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	the dwelling of Henry Reeves Moore Street Ashburton
Folio	3818
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr James Belshaw Methodist

30 April 1919

Samuel Gray
Caroline Maud Tavener

Samuel Gray
Caroline Maud Tavener
💍 1919/3882

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

28
22

Lowcliffe
Coldstream

27 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3819

30 April 1919

W. W. White Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	30 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gray	Caroline Maud Tavener
	💍 1919/3882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Coldstream
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3819
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

2 May 1919

Joseph Colquhoun
Florence Emily Sims

Joseph Colquhoun
Florence Emily Sims
💍 1919/3884

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

35
28

Chertsey
Ashburton

1 year
28 years

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

3820

2 May 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	2 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Colquhoun	Florence Emily Sims
	💍 1919/3884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 year	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3820
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

3 May 1919

John James Nevin
Olive May Anthony

John James Nevin
Olive May Anthony
💍 1919/3885

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
21

Allenton
Allenton

15 years
18 months

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

3821

3 May 1919

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	3 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Nevin	Olive May Anthony
	💍 1919/3885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	15 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	3821
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell Roman Catholic

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).