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 2348

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar Townsend

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

13 April 1922

John Gibb
Janet Graham McFarlane

John Gibb
Janet Graham McFarlane
💍 1922/4927

Bachelor
Widow

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

59
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 month
11 years

At the dwelling of Frank Lawson, Tancred Street, Ashburton

4515

13 April 1922

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	13 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gibb	Janet Graham McFarlane
	💍 1922/4927
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	59	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 month	11 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Frank Lawson, Tancred Street, Ashburton
Folio	4515
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

13 April 1922

Pierce Hugo Napier Freeth
Martha Brown

Pierce Hugo Napier Freeth
Martha Brown
💍 1922/4928

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic duties

34
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 months
25 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

4516

13 April 1922

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	13 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Pierce Hugo Napier Freeth	Martha Brown
	💍 1922/4928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 months	25 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	4516
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

18 April 1922

John Edwards Cook
Eunice Elisabeth Black

John Edwards Cook
Eunice Elizabeth Diack
💍 1922/4929

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Domestic duties

38
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 years
8 years

Church of Christ, Ashburton

4517

18 April 1922

Mr. J. M. Innes, Church of Christ

No	54
Date of Notice	18 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwards Cook	Eunice Elisabeth Black
BDM Match (93%)	John Edwards Cook	Eunice Elizabeth Diack
	💍 1922/4929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Domestic duties
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Ashburton
Folio	4517
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. M. Innes, Church of Christ

22 April 1922

Percy Tennyson Ibell
Mary Elizabeth White

Percy Tennyson Ibell
Mary Elizabeth White
💍 1922/4930

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Dressmaker

24
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

24 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

4518

22 April 1922

Rev. J. W. Fealie, Methodist

No	55
Date of Notice	22 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Tennyson Ibell	Mary Elizabeth White
	💍 1922/4930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Dressmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	4518
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Fealie, Methodist

24 April 1922

Michael David Daly
Muriel Jane March

Michael David Daly
Muriel Jane March
💍 1922/4931

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

4519

24 April 1922

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	56
Date of Notice	24 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael David Daly	Muriel Jane March
	💍 1922/4931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	4519
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

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).