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 2234

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar A. H. Stuart

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

Edward Thomas Stoop
Alice May Wells

Edward Thomas Stoop
Alice May Wells
💍 1919/3890

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

24
23

Woodstock
Woodstock

5 days
23 years

Saint John's Anglican Church, Rimu.

3803

28 April 1919

Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway

No	11
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Stoop	Alice May Wells
	💍 1919/3890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Woodstock	Woodstock
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Saint John's Anglican Church, Rimu.
Folio	3803
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway

5 May 1919

Alfred Dodridge Folley
Elizabeth Mary Coullie

Alfred Dodridge Folley
Elizabeth Mary Goudie
💍 1919/3891

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
School Teacher

35
34

Hokitika
Hokitika

34 days
34 years

Presbyterian Church, Hokitika.

3804

5 May 1919

Rev. P. B. Fraser

No	12
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Dodridge Folley	Elizabeth Mary Coullie
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Dodridge Folley	Elizabeth Mary Goudie
	💍 1919/3891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	School Teacher
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	34 days	34 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hokitika.
Folio	3804
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Fraser

15 May 1919

Sydney Brand
Margaret Stewart

Sydney Brand
Margaret Stewart
💍 1919/3892

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic duties

27
23

Hokitika
Hokitika

12 months
12 months

Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika.

3805

15 May 1919

Rev. J. B. Clancy

No	13
Date of Notice	15 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Brand	Margaret Stewart
	💍 1919/3892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika.
Folio	3805
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Clancy

21 May 1919

Robert James Appleton
Alice Jane Evans

Robert James Appleton
Alice Jane Evans
💍 1919/3893

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary Greymouth Repatriation Committee
Domestic Duties

28
28

Greymouth
Hokitika

24 years
26 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika.

3806

21 May 1919

Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway

No	14
Date of Notice	21 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Appleton	Alice Jane Evans
	💍 1919/3893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary Greymouth Repatriation Committee	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Hokitika
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika.
Folio	3806
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway

16 June 1919

Dick Herbert Thomas
Emma Gale

Dick Herbert Thomas
Emma Gale
💍 1919/3894

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Waitress

29
32

Mananui
Arahura

3 months
2 weeks

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika.

3807

16 June 1919

Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway

No	15
Date of Notice	16 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dick Herbert Thomas	Emma Gale
	💍 1919/3894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Waitress
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Mananui	Arahura
Length of Residence	3 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika.
Folio	3807
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. John E. Holloway

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).