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 2128

District of Motueka Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar Aug. B. Shone

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

6 December 1919

Alan Reeves Muntz
Merle De Rosier Fowler

Allan Reeves Munty
Merle De Rosier Fowler
💍 1919/9280

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Clerk

25
27

Upper Moutere
Motueka

16 years
20 years

St Thomas Church, Motueka

19/9019

6 December 1919

Rev John Vosper

No	19
Date of Notice	6 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Reeves Muntz	Merle De Rosier Fowler
BDM Match (94%)	Allan Reeves Munty	Merle De Rosier Fowler
	💍 1919/9280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Clerk
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Upper Moutere	Motueka
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church, Motueka
Folio	19/9019
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John Vosper

10 December 1919

Frank Bruning
Blanche Maria Elford

Frank Bruning
Blanche Maria Elford
💍 1919/9282

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
19

Motueka
Motueka

27 years
6 years

Registrars Office, Motueka

19/9020

Robert Elford, Father

10 December 1919

W. McInnes

No	20
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Bruning	Blanche Maria Elford
	💍 1919/9282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Motueka
Length of Residence	27 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Motueka
Folio	19/9020
Consent	Robert Elford, Father
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	W. McInnes

10 December 1919

Charles Edwin Stebbings
Lucy Annie Lavena Marshall

Charles Edwin Stebbing
Lucy Innes Levena Marshall
💍 1919/9283

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
20

Pokororo
Lower Moutere

22 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. R. Marshall, Lower Moutere

19/9021

Richard Marshall, Father

10 December 1919

W. J. Harvey

No	21
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Stebbings	Lucy Annie Lavena Marshall
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Edwin Stebbing	Lucy Innes Levena Marshall
	💍 1919/9283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Pokororo	Lower Moutere
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Marshall, Lower Moutere
Folio	19/9021
Consent	Richard Marshall, Father
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	W. J. Harvey

11 December 1919

Henry Ernest Newson
Erena Grace Bradley

Henry Ernest Newson
Erina Grace Bradley
💍 1919/9284

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

31
26

Palmerston North
Riwaka

31 years
26 years

Residence of J. T. Bradley, Riwaka

19/9022

11 December 1919

W. J. Harvey

No	22
Date of Notice	11 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ernest Newson	Erena Grace Bradley
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Ernest Newson	Erina Grace Bradley
	💍 1919/9284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Riwaka
Length of Residence	31 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. T. Bradley, Riwaka
Folio	19/9022
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1919
Officiating Minister	W. J. Harvey

20 December 1919

Richard Joseph Hyland
Alice Olive Stade

Richard Joseph Hyland
Alice Olive Stade
💍 1919/9285

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
27

Tadmor
Motueka

40 years
27 years

Methodist Church, Motueka

19/9023

20 December 1919

C. W. Brown

No	23
Date of Notice	20 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Joseph Hyland	Alice Olive Stade
	💍 1919/9285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Tadmor	Motueka
Length of Residence	40 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Motueka
Folio	19/9023
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1919
Officiating Minister	C. W. Brown

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).