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 2343

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1952 Registrar Loromito

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

7 January 1952

Edward Wright Baden
Alec Way Sophia MacMillan

Edward Wright Eaden
Alice May Sophia MacMillan
💍 1922/3359

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

24
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

14 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

2052

7 January 1952

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1952
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Wright Baden	Alec Way Sophia MacMillan
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Wright Eaden	Alice May Sophia MacMillan
	💍 1922/3359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	2052
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1952
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

10 January 1952

John Foster McLeod
Agnes Cochrane

John Porter McLeod
Agnes Cochrane
💍 1922/3366

Bachelor
Spinster

Veterinary Surgeon
Housekeeper

35
41

Hakanui
Hakanui

14 years
41 years

Presbyterian Church Hakanui

2053

10 January 1952

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1952
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Foster McLeod	Agnes Cochrane
BDM Match (94%)	John Porter McLeod	Agnes Cochrane
	💍 1922/3366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon	Housekeeper
Age	35	41
Dwelling Place	Hakanui	Hakanui
Length of Residence	14 years	41 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hakanui
Folio	2053
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1952
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

14 January 1952

Harold Williams Henry Sinalebone
Lilian Mary Bennett

Harold William Henry Smallbone
Lilian Mary Bennett
💍 1922/3367

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
domestic duties

32
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
2 years

Methodist Church Ashburton

2054

14 January 1952

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	14 January 1952
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Williams Henry Sinalebone	Lilian Mary Bennett
BDM Match (94%)	Harold William Henry Smallbone	Lilian Mary Bennett
	💍 1922/3367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	domestic duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	2054
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1952
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

28 January 1952

Joseph Edward Russell
Ellen Macdonald Murray

Joseph Edward Fussell
Ellen Macdonald Murray
💍 1922/3368

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Weaver

29
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
5 years

at the dwelling of Kate 119 Cameron Street Ashburton

2055

28 January 1952

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	28 January 1952
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Russell	Ellen Macdonald Murray
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Edward Fussell	Ellen Macdonald Murray
	💍 1922/3368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Weaver
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Kate 119 Cameron Street Ashburton
Folio	2055
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1952
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

4 February 1952

Gordon Macdonald Gordon
Dorothy Mabel Hunt

Gordon Macdonald Gordon
Dorothy Mabel Hunt
💍 1922/3369

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
domestic duties

24
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 weeks
3 weeks

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

2056

4 February 1952

Rev. J. J. Wiseman, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	4 February 1952
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Macdonald Gordon	Dorothy Mabel Hunt
	💍 1922/3369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	2056
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1952
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Wiseman, Church of England

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).