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 2166

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar S. Tyson

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

14 December 1919

William Howard Newman
Ada Martha Schwass

William Howard Newman
Ada Martha Schwass
💍 1919/9295

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

31
30

Nelson
Nelson

5 days
6 weeks

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

19/9051

17 December 1919

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	99
Date of Notice	14 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Howard Newman	Ada Martha Schwass
	💍 1919/9295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	19/9051
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

100

22 December 1919

Robert Henry Bracefield
Kathleen Agatha Burke

Robert Henry Bracefield
Kathleen Agatha Burke
💍 1919/9306

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

32
28

Nelson
Nelson

5 days
5 days

Dwelling of Thomas Burke, South Street, Nelson

19/9052

22 December 1919

Rev. K. I. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	100
Date of Notice	22 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Bracefield	Kathleen Agatha Burke
	💍 1919/9306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Burke, South Street, Nelson
Folio	19/9052
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. I. McGrath, Roman Catholic

101

23 December 1919

Maurice Septon Harvey
Margaret Jane Hickey

Maurice Sefton Harvey
Margaret Jane Hickey
💍 1919/9313

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
33

Nelson
Nelson

1 week
14 years

Catholic Presbytery, Manuka Street, Nelson

19/9053

23 December 1919

Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

No	101
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Septon Harvey	Margaret Jane Hickey
BDM Match (98%)	Maurice Sefton Harvey	Margaret Jane Hickey
	💍 1919/9313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 week	14 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	19/9053
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

102

24 December 1919

Percy Howard Jones
Reenie Atkinson

Percy Howard Jones
Reenie Atkinson
💍 1919/9314

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Tailoress

25
26

Manaia
Nelson

26 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/9054

24 December 1919

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	102
Date of Notice	24 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Howard Jones	Reenie Atkinson
	💍 1919/9314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Tailoress
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Nelson
Length of Residence		26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9054
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

103

24 December 1919

Hilton James Hunter
Lucy Elizabeth Bruning

Hilton James Hunter
Lucy Elizabeth Bruning
💍 1919/9315

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/9055

24 December 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	103
Date of Notice	24 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hilton James Hunter	Lucy Elizabeth Bruning
	💍 1919/9315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/9055
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

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).