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 2351

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar W. W. White

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 June 1922

William John Beatty
Alice Jane Patton

William John Beatty
Alice Jane Patton
💍 1922/4915

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic Duties

32
35

Ashburton
Mt. Somers

3 days
nil

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

4529

8 June 1922

W. W. White, Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	7 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Beatty	Alice Jane Patton
	💍 1922/4915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic Duties
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Mt. Somers
Length of Residence	3 days	nil
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	4529
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1922
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

13 June 1922

Leonard Francis Burnett
Helen Conway

Leonard Francis Bennett
Helen Conway
💍 1922/4916

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

24 years
22 years

At the dwelling of James Arthur, Ruapuna

4530

13 June 1922

Mr. J. W. Bayliss, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	13 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Francis Burnett	Helen Conway
BDM Match (96%)	Leonard Francis Bennett	Helen Conway
	💍 1922/4916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of James Arthur, Ruapuna
Folio	4530
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. W. Bayliss, Methodist

13 June 1922

George Helings
Gertrude Emily Ward

George Helings
Gertrude Emily Ward
💍 1922/4917

Widower (18 March 1921)
Widow (18 January 1908)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

81
59

Ashburton
Ashburton

48 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

4531

13 June 1922

W. W. White, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	13 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Helings	Gertrude Emily Ward
	💍 1922/4917
Condition	Widower (18 March 1921)	Widow (18 January 1908)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	81	59
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	48 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	4531
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1922
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

19 June 1922

Hugh McMurray
Bridget Lynch

Hugh McMurray
Bridget Lynch
💍 1922/4918

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

41
38

Ashburton
Ashburton

14 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

4532

19 June 1922

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	40
Date of Notice	19 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McMurray	Bridget Lynch
	💍 1922/4918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	14 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	4532
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

22 June 1922

Henry Richards Paterson
Annie Isabella Kirk

Henry Richards Paterson
Annie Isabella Kirk
💍 1922/4919

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 weeks

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

4533

22 June 1922

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	22 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richards Paterson	Annie Isabella Kirk
	💍 1922/4919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	4533
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

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).