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 2032

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar G. E. Butcher

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

28 May 1919

John Murdo Munro
May Mills

John Murdo Munro
May Mills
💍 1919/3739

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

18 months
22 years

Residence of Mr. D. Mills, Mayfield

19/3700

28 May 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	33
Date of Notice	28 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murdo Munro	May Mills
	💍 1919/3739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	18 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. D. Mills, Mayfield
Folio	19/3700
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

2 June 1919

Herbert Watson
Mary Ross

Herbert Watson
Mary Ross
💍 1919/3747

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

27
21

Renwicktown
Renwicktown

27 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/3701

2 June 1919

G. E. Butcher, Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages

No	34
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Watson	Mary Ross
	💍 1919/3747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Renwicktown
Length of Residence	27 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/3701
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	G. E. Butcher, Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages

5 June 1919

Frederick Thomas Leighton
Dorothy Margaret Cheek

Frederick Thomas Leighton
Dorothy Margaret Cheek
💍 1919/3758

Bachelor
Spinster

Analytical Chemist
Home Duties

32
25

Johnsonville
Blenheim

32 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

19/3702

5 June 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	35
Date of Notice	5 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Leighton	Dorothy Margaret Cheek
	💍 1919/3758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Analytical Chemist	Home Duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Blenheim
Length of Residence	32 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/3702
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

9 June 1919

George Power Eves
Louisa Ellen Kruse

George Power Eves
Louisa Ellen Kruse
💍 1919/3765

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Home Duties

40
25

Renwicktown
Manuka Island

40 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. Kruse, Manuka Island

19/3703

9 June 1919

Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	9 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Power Eves	Louisa Ellen Kruse
	💍 1919/3765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Home Duties
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Manuka Island
Length of Residence	40 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Kruse, Manuka Island
Folio	19/3703
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

11 June 1919

Ernest Lawrence
Ella Myrtle Snowden

Ernest Lawrence
Ella Myrtle Snowden
💍 1919/3766

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
School-teacher

31
22

Farnham
Springlands

12 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

19/3704

11 June 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	37
Date of Notice	11 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Lawrence	Ella Myrtle Snowden
	💍 1919/3766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	School-teacher
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Farnham	Springlands
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/3704
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

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).