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 2132

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar W. N. Johnston

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

21 April 1922

Andrew Smith McGimpsey
Jean Cooper

Andrew Smith McGimpsey
Jean Cooper
💍 1922/4810

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

20
21

Westport
Millerton

3 days
1 year

Registrars Office, Westport

22/4422

Declaration under sec 27

6 May 1922

W. N. Johnston, Registrar of Marriages, Westport

No	11
Date of Notice	21 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Smith McGimpsey	Jean Cooper
	💍 1922/4810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Millerton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Westport
Folio	22/4422
Consent	Declaration under sec 27
Date of Certificate	6 May 1922
Officiating Minister	W. N. Johnston, Registrar of Marriages, Westport

11 May 1922

Alexander Dove
Margaret Elizabeth Mary McCann

Alexander Dove
Margaret Elizabeth Mary McCann
💍 1922/4811

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Waitress

27
27

Westport
Addisons

7 days
8 days

Roman Catholic Church, Addisons

22/4423

11 May 1922

Rev Father Bowe, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	11 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Dove	Margaret Elizabeth Mary McCann
	💍 1922/4811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Waitress
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Westport	Addisons
Length of Residence	7 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Addisons
Folio	22/4423
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Bowe, Roman Catholic

23 May 1922

Frederick Oldham
Emmeline Stella Griffin

Frederick Oldham
Emmeline Stella Griffin
💍 1922/4812

Bachelor
Widow 12-10-17

Miner
Domestic

29
24

Burnett's Face
Westport

12 years
4 years

Mr. C. S. Interman's Residence, 12 Queen Street, Westport

22/4424

23 May 1922

Rev F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	23 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Oldham	Emmeline Stella Griffin
	💍 1922/4812
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 12-10-17
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Burnett's Face	Westport
Length of Residence	12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Mr. C. S. Interman's Residence, 12 Queen Street, Westport
Folio	22/4424
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev F. A. Tooley, Church of England

2 June 1922

Richard Joseph Collins
Mabel Annie Hansen

Richard Joseph Collins
Mabel Annie Hansen
💍 1922/4813

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
19

Westport
Birchfield

3 days
19 years

St John's Church, Westport

22/4425

2 June 1922

Rev Canon J. F. Coursey, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	2 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Joseph Collins	Mabel Annie Hansen
	💍 1922/4813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Birchfield
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Westport
Folio	22/4425
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev Canon J. F. Coursey, Church of England

5 June 1922

Alexander Mitchell MacDonald
Eva Bowater

Alexander Mitchell MacDonald
Eva Bowater
💍 1922/4846

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
30

Westport
Westport

3 days
28 years

Residence of Bride's parents, 23 Rintoul Street, Westport

22/4426

5 June 1922

Rev W. A. Watson, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	5 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mitchell MacDonald	Eva Bowater
	💍 1922/4846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's parents, 23 Rintoul Street, Westport
Folio	22/4426
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Watson, Methodist

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).