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 2150

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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

16 April 1919

Max Harry Otto Johnson
Florrie Howes

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

51
41

Nelson
Nelson

2 weeks
23 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

Not paid

16 April 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Max Harry Otto Johnson	Florrie Howes
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	51	41
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	Not paid
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

14 April 1919

Percy Edward Westrupp
Ivy Taylor

Percy Edward Westrupp
Ivy Taylor
💍 1919/3834

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic duties

27
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
7 years

Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

19/3745

14 April 1919

Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Edward Westrupp	Ivy Taylor
	💍 1919/3834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	19/3745
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

23 April 1919

Richard Charles Moody
Olive Thompson

Richard Charles Moody
Olive Thompson
💍 1919/3835

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

35
27

Nelson
Nelson

2 weeks
7 years

Church of Christ, Nelson

19/3746

23 April 1919

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Charles Moody	Olive Thompson
	💍 1919/3835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 weeks	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Nelson
Folio	19/3746
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

24 April 1919

Charles Herbert Louisson
Elsie May Harris

Charles Herbert Louisson
Elsie May Harris
💍 1919/3836

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

28
21

Nelson
Nelson

18 months
5 years

Church of Christ, Nelson

19/3747

24 April 1919

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Louisson	Elsie May Harris
	💍 1919/3836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	18 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Nelson
Folio	19/3747
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

25 April 1919

Cyril Augustus Stark
Laura Isabel Cunningham

Cyril Augustus Stark
Laura Isabel Cunningham
💍 1919/3837

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic duties

23
18

Nelson
Nelson

1 month
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

19/3718

John Cunningham, Father

25 April 1919

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	25 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Augustus Stark	Laura Isabel Cunningham
	💍 1919/3837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 month	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	19/3718
Consent	John Cunningham, Father
Date of Certificate	25 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

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).