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 2146

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 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

15 February 1919

Richard Nelson Andrews
Sylvia Edith Hall

Richard Nelson Andrews
Sylvia Edith Hall
💍 1919/1648

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
18

Nelson
Atawhai, Nelson

20 years
7 years

St John's Methodist Church, Nelson

19/1392

George Hall, father

15 February 1919

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	15 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Nelson Andrews	Sylvia Edith Hall
	💍 1919/1648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Atawhai, Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	19/1392
Consent	George Hall, father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

18 February 1919

William Laird
Nellie MacLaren Gay

William Laird
Nellie MacLaren Gay
💍 1919/1649

Bachelor
Married but not heard of husband as alive during last eleven years

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
44

Nelson
Nelson

12 months
11 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/1393

18 February 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	18 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Laird	Nellie MacLaren Gay
	💍 1919/1649
Condition	Bachelor	Married but not heard of husband as alive during last eleven years
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	44
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/1393
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

24 February 1919

Gordon Smith
Florence Bell Scorgie

Gordon Smith
Florence Bell Scorgie
💍 1919/1650

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic duties

31
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

All Saints' Church, Nelson

19/1394

24 February 1919

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	24 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Smith	Florence Bell Scorgie
	💍 1919/1650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	19/1394
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

13 March 1919

Arthur Martin
Elizabeth Louise Thomason

Arthur Martin
Elizabeth Louise Thomason
💍 1919/1651

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
33

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Cathedral, Nelson

19/1395

13 March 1919

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	13 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Martin	Elizabeth Louise Thomason
	💍 1919/1651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	19/1395
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

14 March 1919

Alexander John Nicol
Mary Kathleen Pettit

Alexander John Nicol
Mary Kathleen Pettit
💍 1919/1652

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

25
26

Nelson
Nelson

7 days
26 years

Baptist Church, Nelson

19/1396

14 March 1919

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	10
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Nicol	Mary Kathleen Pettit
	💍 1919/1652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	19/1396
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

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).