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 2240

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. H. Knight

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

13 December 1919

William Alfred Smith
Margaret Robertson

William Alfred Smith
Margaret Robertson
💍 1919/9336

William Walter Best
Margaret Anderson Robertson
💍 1919/6846

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

32
36

Lower Kokatahi
Hokitika

22 years
4 weeks

All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika

9099

13 December 1919

Rev Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Smith	Margaret Robertson
	💍 1919/9336
BDM Match (61%)	William Walter Best	Margaret Anderson Robertson
	💍 1919/6846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Lower Kokatahi	Hokitika
Length of Residence	22 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika
Folio	9099
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

13 December 1919

Hugh Linklater
Robina Ethel Williams

Hugh Linklater
Robina Ethel Williams
💍 1919/9337

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
33

Stafford
Stafford

32 years
5 weeks

All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika

9100

13 December 1919

Rev Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Linklater	Robina Ethel Williams
	💍 1919/9337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Stafford	Stafford
Length of Residence	32 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika
Folio	9100
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

16 December 1919

Ernest George Thomas Steele
Minnie May Duncan

Ernest George Thomas Steele
Minnie May Duncan
💍 1919/9345

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

35
42

Lower Kokatahi
Hokitika

5 years
42 years

Presbyterian Manse Hokitika

9101

16 December 1919

Rev P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Thomas Steele	Minnie May Duncan
	💍 1919/9345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	35	42
Dwelling Place	Lower Kokatahi	Hokitika
Length of Residence	5 years	42 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Hokitika
Folio	9101
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian

17 December 1919

Kenneth Sholto Caldwell
Helen Beatrice Mackay

Kenneth Sholts Caldwell
Helen Beatrice MacKay
💍 1919/9356

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister and Solicitor
Schoolteacher

30
25

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
25 years

All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika

9102

17 December 1919

Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

No	35
Date of Notice	17 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Sholto Caldwell	Helen Beatrice Mackay
BDM Match (95%)	Kenneth Sholts Caldwell	Helen Beatrice MacKay
	💍 1919/9356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister and Solicitor	Schoolteacher
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Hokitika
Folio	9102
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Dr J. E. Holloway, Anglican

27 December 1919

Edwin Tanner Sherriff
Matilda Sophia Sherriff

Edwin Tanner Sherriff
Matilda Sophia Sherriff
💍 1919/9362

Bachelor
Widow

Sawmill Hand
Hotel-Keeper

27
34

Blue Spur
Blue Spur

2 years
8 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Hokitika

9103

27 December 1919

Mr G. H. Bridgman, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	27 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Tanner Sherriff	Matilda Sophia Sherriff
	💍 1919/9362
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Hotel-Keeper
Age	27	34
Dwelling Place	Blue Spur	Blue Spur
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Hokitika
Folio	9103
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr G. H. Bridgman, 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).