Intentions to Marry, 1923 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840517, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923f contains pages 2125-2670, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2423

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1923 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

5 July 1923

Charles Franklin Marsden
Evelyn Muriel Cochrane

Charles Franklin Marsden
Evelyn Muriel Cochrane
💍 1923/5563

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
domestic duties

24
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 weeks
3 weeks

Ashburton Mission

7152

Richard Thomas Alexander Cochrane, father of minor

5 July 1923

Mr. J. P. Ratley, Ashburton Mission

No	46
Date of Notice	5 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Franklin Marsden	Evelyn Muriel Cochrane
	💍 1923/5563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Ashburton Mission
Folio	7152
Consent	Richard Thomas Alexander Cochrane, father of minor
Date of Certificate	5 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. P. Ratley, Ashburton Mission

9 July 1923

Francis Hamilton Glasson
Louisa May Burrows

Francis Hamilton Glasson
Louisa May Burrows
💍 1923/5570

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
domestic duties

23
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
3 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7153

James Burrows, father of minor

9 July 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	9 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hamilton Glasson	Louisa May Burrows
	💍 1923/5570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7153
Consent	James Burrows, father of minor
Date of Certificate	9 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

10 July 1923

James Gibson Marshall
Olive Annie McKenzie

James Gibson Marshall
Olive Annie McKenzie
💍 1923/5571

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

24
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Hinds

7154

10 July 1923

Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	10 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gibson Marshall	Olive Annie McKenzie
	💍 1923/5571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hinds
Folio	7154
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

25 July 1923

William John Beatty
Rachel Sarah Margaret Hoff

William John Beatty
Racheal Sarah Margaret Hoff
💍 1923/5572

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
domestic duties

30
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
11 months

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7155

25 July 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Beatty	Rachel Sarah Margaret Hoff
BDM Match (98%)	William John Beatty	Racheal Sarah Margaret Hoff
	💍 1923/5572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7155
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

31 July 1923

James Laurie Oliver Walker
Grace Etheldra Taylor

James Laurie Oliver Walker
Grace Etheldra Taylor
💍 1923/5573

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
Shop Assistant

34
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
7 years

Baptist Church, Ashburton

7156

31 July 1923

Rev. C. S. Matthews, Baptist

No	50
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Laurie Oliver Walker	Grace Etheldra Taylor
	💍 1923/5573
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Shop Assistant
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Ashburton
Folio	7156
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Matthews, Baptist

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).