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 2418

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar Lowcounts

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

14 April 1923

Thomas Adam Woods
Janet Stace

Thomas Adam Woods
Janet Stace
💍 1923/9378

Bachelor
Widow

Bookkeeper
Domestic duties

41
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

4816

14 April 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	14 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Adam Woods	Janet Stace
	💍 1923/9378
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bookkeeper	Domestic duties
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	4816
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

23 April 1923

Clifford Roy Brainley
Edith Jane Choak

Clifford Roy Bramley
Edith Jane Choak
💍 1923/9379

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

36
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

25 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

4817

23 April 1923

Rev. J. H. Vealie, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	23 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Roy Brainley	Edith Jane Choak
BDM Match (95%)	Clifford Roy Bramley	Edith Jane Choak
	💍 1923/9379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	4817
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Vealie, Methodist

23 April 1923

George Apito Read
Ethel Mabel Kundsen

George Apiti Read
Ethel Mabel Knudsen
💍 1923/9380

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
10 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

4818

23 April 1923

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	23 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Apito Read	Ethel Mabel Kundsen
BDM Match (92%)	George Apiti Read	Ethel Mabel Knudsen
	💍 1923/9380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	4818
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

29 April 1923

Charles Hardie
Isabella Bowie Gondie

Charles Harold Jaine
Isabella Bousie Gourdie
💍 1923/9381

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

29 years
8 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

4819

29 April 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	29 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hardie	Isabella Bowie Gondie
BDM Match (76%)	Charles Harold Jaine	Isabella Bousie Gourdie
	💍 1923/9381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	4819
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

3 May 1923

Hugh Charles Downes
Janet Cook

Hugh Charles Downes
Janet Cook
💍 1923/9383

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic duties

29
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 months
14 days

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

4820

3 May 1923

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	3 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Charles Downes	Janet Cook
	💍 1923/9383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 months	14 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	4820
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1923
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).