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 2076

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar J. C. Dale

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

20 October 1919

Ernest Henry Fitzpatrick Thompson
Mary Lory

Ernest Herbert Fitzpatrick Thompson
Mary Lory
💍 1919/9274

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
51

Newton Flat
Westport

7 years
22 months

Registrar's Office, Lyell

19/9013

20 October 1919

Registrar Lyell

No	32
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Fitzpatrick Thompson	Mary Lory
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Herbert Fitzpatrick Thompson	Mary Lory
	💍 1919/9274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	51
Dwelling Place	Newton Flat	Westport
Length of Residence	7 years	22 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Lyell
Folio	19/9013
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar Lyell

4 November 1919

James Black
Catherine Smith

James Black
Catherine Smith
💍 1919/9291

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

21
21

Westport
Westport

3 days
3 days

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Westport

19/9006

4 November 1919

Thos. Knight, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Black	Catherine Smith
	💍 1919/9291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Westport
Folio	19/9006
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Thos. Knight, Presbyterian

1 December 1919

Jack Henry Sivewright
Emma Albertina Schmidt

Jack Henry Sivewright
Emma Albertina Schmidt
💍 1919/9292

Bachelor
Spinster

Artificial limb maker
Dressmaker

38
27

Westport
Westport

3 weeks
Since birth

Residence of John Gottfried Schmidt, 104 Russell Street, Westport

19/9007

1 December 1919

Canon J. R. Coursey, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Henry Sivewright	Emma Albertina Schmidt
	💍 1919/9292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artificial limb maker	Dressmaker
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 weeks	Since birth
Marriage Place	Residence of John Gottfried Schmidt, 104 Russell Street, Westport
Folio	19/9007
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Canon J. R. Coursey, Church of England

11 December 1919

Norman Thomas Dyer
Marjorie Winifred Morris

Norman Thomas Dyer
Marjorie Winifred Morris
💍 1919/9293

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Waitress

24
21

Westport
Westport

12 weeks
10 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Westport

19/9008

11 December 1919

A. Miller M.A., Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	11 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Thomas Dyer	Marjorie Winifred Morris
	💍 1919/9293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Waitress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	12 weeks	10 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Westport
Folio	19/9008
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1919
Officiating Minister	A. Miller M.A., Presbyterian

16 December 1919

William Dent
Emily Ursula Taylor

William Dent
Emily Ursula Taylor
💍 1919/9294

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
20

Westport
Westport

16 years
All life

Residence of Mr. Geo. Taylor, Westport

19/9009

Edward John Taylor, Father

16 December 1919

H. A. Watson, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dent	Emily Ursula Taylor
	💍 1919/9294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	16 years	All life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Geo. Taylor, Westport
Folio	19/9009
Consent	Edward John Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	H. A. Watson, 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).