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 2162

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

13 October 1919

Robert McKay
Margaret Pallister

Robert McKay
Margaret Pallister
💍 1919/4672

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

41
39

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
12 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/9033

13 October 1919

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McKay	Margaret Pallister
	💍 1919/4672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9033
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

13 October 1919

John Joseph Borough
Susan O'Donnell

John Joseph Borough
Susan O'Donnell
💍 1919/4673

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver, New Zealand Railways
Clerk

30
27

Nelson
Nelson

7 days
28 days

Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

19/9034

13 October 1919

Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Borough	Susan O'Donnell
	💍 1919/4673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver, New Zealand Railways	Clerk
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 days	28 days
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	19/9034
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

13 October 1919

Joseph Abraham
Mary Ann Wood

James Abraham
Mary Anne Wood
💍 1919/4650

George Thomas Limb
Mary Ann Wood
💍 1920/4384

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic Duties

38
36

Nelson
Nelson

14 years
8 weeks

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/9035

13 October 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	81
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Abraham	Mary Ann Wood
BDM Match (82%)	James Abraham	Mary Anne Wood
	💍 1919/4650
BDM Match (61%)	George Thomas Limb	Mary Ann Wood
	💍 1920/4384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic Duties
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 years	8 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/9035
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

17 October 1919

Edgar William Adair
Dorothy Gladys Gibbs

Edgar William Adair
Dorothy Gladys Gibbs
💍 1919/4651

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Nurse

24
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/9036

17 October 1919

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar William Adair	Dorothy Gladys Gibbs
	💍 1919/4651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Nurse
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9036
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

18 October 1919

Robert Houliston Fairbairn (F.A.)
Rose Annie Cropp

Robert Honliston Fairbairn
Rose Annie Cropp
💍 1919/7117

Widower (23rd July 1918)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

50
34

Spring Grove
Nelson

3 days

St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson

19/6605

18 October 1919

Rev. C. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	83
Date of Notice	18 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Houliston Fairbairn (F.A.)	Rose Annie Cropp
BDM Match (88%)	Robert Honliston Fairbairn	Rose Annie Cropp
	💍 1919/7117
Condition	Widower (23rd July 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	50	34
Dwelling Place	Spring Grove	Nelson
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	19/6605
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. D. Patchett, 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).