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 2414

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 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

19 February 1923

Keith Stanley Bachew
Elizabeth Payne

Keith Stanley McEachen
Elizabeth Payne
💍 1923/2574

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Cycle Agent
Shop Assistant

24
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
2 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2269

19 February 1923

Rev. Geo. Miller, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	19 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Stanley Bachew	Elizabeth Payne
BDM Match (91%)	Keith Stanley McEachen	Elizabeth Payne
	💍 1923/2574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Cycle Agent	Shop Assistant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2269
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller, Presbyterian

23 February 1923

Edward Thomas Martin
Margaret Peterson

Edward Thomas Martin
Margaret Peterson
💍 1923/2576

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
domestic duties

28
38

Ashburton
Ashburton

28 years
9 months

at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

2270

23 February 1923

W. W. White, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	23 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Martin	Margaret Peterson
	💍 1923/2576
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	28 years	9 months
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	2270
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1923
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

28 February 1923

Malcolm Lindsay Macbeth
Ada Winnie Alfreda Godby

Malcolm Lindsay Macbeth
Ada Minnie Alfreda Godby
💍 1923/3908

Bachelor
Spinster

Skin dealer
domestic duties

25
35

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

28 February 1923

W. W. White, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	28 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Lindsay Macbeth	Ada Winnie Alfreda Godby
BDM Match (98%)	Malcolm Lindsay Macbeth	Ada Minnie Alfreda Godby
	💍 1923/3908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Skin dealer	domestic duties
Age	25	35
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1923
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

3 March 1923

Robert Day Robinson
Mary Isabel Good

Robert Day Robinson
Mary Isabel Good
💍 1923/2577

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

30
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 months
2 months

Library Hall, Ealing

2271

3 March 1923

Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	3 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Day Robinson	Mary Isabel Good
	💍 1923/2577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Library Hall, Ealing
Folio	2271
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

6 March 1923

Frank John Wood Henderson
Lilian May Sheppard

Frank John Wood Henderson
Lilian May Sheppard
💍 1923/2578

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

32
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

2272

6 March 1923

W. W. White, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	6 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank John Wood Henderson	Lilian May Sheppard
	💍 1923/2578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	2272
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1923
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).