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 2425

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar [illegible]

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

15 August 1923

Thomas Leslie Gourdie
Rachel Jane Wilson

Thomas Leslie Gourdie
Rachel Jane Wilson
💍 1923/5555

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

28
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

28 years
33 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

7162

15 August 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	15 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leslie Gourdie	Rachel Jane Wilson
	💍 1923/5555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	28 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	7162
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

21 August 1923

William Stevens
Emmaleen Arm Serth

William Stevens
Emmaleen Ann Serth
💍 1923/5556

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years

Methodist Church Ashburton

7163

Helen Foatten, formerly Serth, mother

21 August 1923

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	57
Date of Notice	21 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stevens	Emmaleen Arm Serth
BDM Match (94%)	William Stevens	Emmaleen Ann Serth
	💍 1923/5556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	7163
Consent	Helen Foatten, formerly Serth, mother
Date of Certificate	21 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

3 September 1923

William Francis O'Neill
Anne Philomena Daly

William Francis ONeill
Annie Philomena Daly
💍 1923/5557

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
domestic duties

28
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
24 years

Roman Catholic Church Hinds

7164

3 September 1923

Very Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	58
Date of Notice	3 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis O'Neill	Anne Philomena Daly
BDM Match (95%)	William Francis ONeill	Annie Philomena Daly
	💍 1923/5557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hinds
Folio	7164
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

5 September 1923

Thomas Henry Stevenson
Ethel Doris Clarke

Thomas Henry Stevenson
Ethel Doris Clarke
💍 1923/5558

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
dressmaker

37
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

7165

5 September 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	5 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Stevenson	Ethel Doris Clarke
	💍 1923/5558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	dressmaker
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	7165
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

11 September 1923

Thomas Hinton Wright
Eunice Kathleen Gibson

Thomas Linton Wright
Eunice Kathleen Gibson
💍 1923/5559

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Inspector
Milliner

54
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
2 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

7166

11 September 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	11 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hinton Wright	Eunice Kathleen Gibson
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Linton Wright	Eunice Kathleen Gibson
	💍 1923/5559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Inspector	Milliner
Age	54	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	7166
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1923
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).