Intentions to Marry, 1920 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840493, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920f contains pages 2345-2956, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2377

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar C. 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 April 1920

Douglas Stuart Hall
Olive Letta Bulliff

Douglas Stuart Hall
Olive Zetta Bulliff
💍 1920/1897

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
18

Spring Creek
Blenheim

20 years
13 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

20/5760

Agnes Isabell Hall, and Emily Isabel George, mothers respectively

28 April 1920

Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

No	36
Date of Notice	28 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Stuart Hall	Olive Letta Bulliff
BDM Match (97%)	Douglas Stuart Hall	Olive Zetta Bulliff
	💍 1920/1897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Blenheim
Length of Residence	20 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	20/5760
Consent	Agnes Isabell Hall, and Emily Isabel George, mothers respectively
Date of Certificate	28 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

7 May 1920

Thomas Francis Reardon
Elizabeth Emma Park

Thomas Francis Reardon
Elizabeth Emma Park
💍 1920/1898

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Help

25
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

25 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

20/5761

7 May 1920

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	7 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Reardon	Elizabeth Emma Park
	💍 1920/1898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Help
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/5761
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

11 May 1920

Wilfred Michael Maher
Helena Kate Cameron

Wilfred Michael Maher
Helena Kate Cameron
💍 1920/1899

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

31
29

Kaituna
Okaramio

27 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. John Cameron, Okaramio

20/5762

11 May 1920

Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	11 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Michael Maher	Helena Kate Cameron
	💍 1920/1899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Kaituna	Okaramio
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Cameron, Okaramio
Folio	20/5762
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

13 May 1920

Alexander Gillanders McKay
Minnie Cheesman

Alexander Gillanders McKay
Minnie Cheesman
💍 1920/1900

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

30
27

Grovetown
Grovetown

1 year
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

20/5763

13 May 1920

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	13 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gillanders McKay	Minnie Cheesman
	💍 1920/1900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	1 year	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/5763
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

14 May 1920

Kenneth Clunies-Ross
Lucy Agnes Trischler

Kenneth Clunies-Ross
Lucy Agnes Trischler
💍 1920/1901

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Mistress

28
22

Grovetown
Blenheim

10 years
15 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

20/5764

14 May 1920

Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

No	40
Date of Notice	14 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Clunies-Ross	Lucy Agnes Trischler
	💍 1920/1901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Mistress
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Blenheim
Length of Residence	10 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	20/5764
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

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).