Intentions to Marry, 1922 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840509, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922f contains pages 2059-2580, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2093

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar W. M. Chesney

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

1922/15

3 July 1922

Herbert Lawrence Hounsell
Margaret Forbes Shiach

Herbert Lawrence Hounsell
Margaret Forbes Shiach
💍 1922/7928

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

35
33

Seddon
Seddon

20 years
18 months

Presbyterian Manse, Seddon

6641

3 July 1922

Rev. G. J. King, Presbyterian

No	1922/15
Date of Notice	3 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Lawrence Hounsell	Margaret Forbes Shiach
	💍 1922/7928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Seddon
Length of Residence	20 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Seddon
Folio	6641
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. King, Presbyterian

1922/16

4 July 1922

Henry Otto Wilke
May Gillett

Henry Otto Wilke
May Gillett
💍 1922/7929

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School-teacher

29
29

Ravenscliff
Picton

2 months
12 months

Church of England, Picton

6642

4 July 1922

Rev. O. Quintrell, Church of England

No	1922/16
Date of Notice	4 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Otto Wilke	May Gillett
	💍 1922/7929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School-teacher
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Ravenscliff	Picton
Length of Residence	2 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Picton
Folio	6642
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Quintrell, Church of England

1922/17

4 July 1922

Edward Reynal O'Connor
Monica Rennell

Edward Reynal O'Connor
Monica Rennell
💍 1922/7930

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
28

Hillersden Rural
Hillersden Rural

8 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

6643

4 July 1922

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	1922/17
Date of Notice	4 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Reynal O'Connor	Monica Rennell
	💍 1922/7930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Hillersden Rural	Hillersden Rural
Length of Residence	8 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	6643
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

1922/18

4 July 1922

George Macdonald
Kate Dawson (Known as Kate Arona)

George Macdonald
Kate Arona
💍 1922/7931

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
26

Wairau Pa
Wairau Pa

22 years
9 months

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

6644

4 July 1922

W. M. Chesney, Registrar

No	1922/18
Date of Notice	4 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Macdonald	Kate Dawson (Known as Kate Arona)
BDM Match (65%)	George Macdonald	Kate Arona
	💍 1922/7931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Wairau Pa	Wairau Pa
Length of Residence	22 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	6644
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1922
Officiating Minister	W. M. Chesney, Registrar

1922/19

14 July 1922

George Henry Johnson
Annie Agnes Smith

George Henry Johnson
Annie Agnes Smith
💍 1922/7933

Henry Smart
Annie Agnes Smith
💍 1922/2134

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
39

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

6 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

6645

14 July 1922

W. M. Chesney, Registrar

No	1922/19
Date of Notice	14 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Johnson	Annie Agnes Smith
	💍 1922/7933
BDM Match (65%)	Henry Smart	Annie Agnes Smith
	💍 1922/2134
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	39
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	6645
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1922
Officiating Minister	W. M. Chesney, Registrar

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).