Intentions to Marry, 1924 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840525, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924f contains pages 2129-2646, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2353

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar J. McIndoe

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

26 April 1924

James Edward Francis Stokes
Mary Eleanor Kennedy

James Edward Francis Stokes
Mary Eleanor Kennedy
💍 1924/3867

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Housemaid

24
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

24 years
20 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

24/4960

26 April 1924

Rev. Father Long, Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	26 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Francis Stokes	Mary Eleanor Kennedy
	💍 1924/3867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Housemaid
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	24/4960
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Long, Roman Catholic

5 May 1924

Thomas Henry Neil Smith
Phylis May Truscott

Thomas Henry Neil Smith
Phylis May Truscott
💍 1924/3868

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer
Household

23
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 1/2 years
24 years

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

24/4961

5 May 1924

Rev. Martin, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	5 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Neil Smith	Phylis May Truscott
	💍 1924/3868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer	Household
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	24/4961
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Martin, Methodist

6 May 1924

Henry Harpur
Monica Doris Sweetman

Henry Harpur
Monica Doris Sweetman
💍 1924/3869

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

19
20

Greymouth
Greymouth

19 years
6 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

24/4962

Ellen Saunders, Mother; Charles Henry Sweetman, Father

6 May 1924

Rev. F. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	6 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harpur	Monica Doris Sweetman
	💍 1924/3869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	19 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	24/4962
Consent	Ellen Saunders, Mother; Charles Henry Sweetman, Father
Date of Certificate	6 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Long, Roman Catholic

6 May 1924

James Anthony Reynolds
Ruth Alma Mayvis Mills

James Anthony Reynolds
Ruth Alma Mayvis Mills
💍 1924/3870

Bachelor
Spinster

Draftsman
Shop Assistant

27
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
23 years

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

24/4963

6 May 1924

Rev. J. F. Martin, Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	6 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Anthony Reynolds	Ruth Alma Mayvis Mills
	💍 1924/3870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draftsman	Shop Assistant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	24/4963
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Martin, Methodist

15 May 1924

William Laney Castle
Frances Margaret Ann Lind

William Laney Castle
Frances Margaret Ann Luid
💍 1924/1470

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

24
27

Reefton
Cobden

-
20 years

Mr. Lind's Private Residence, Cobden

24/4979

15 May 1924

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	15 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Laney Castle	Frances Margaret Ann Lind
BDM Match (96%)	William Laney Castle	Frances Margaret Ann Luid
	💍 1924/1470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Cobden
Length of Residence	-	20 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Lind's Private Residence, Cobden
Folio	24/4979
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

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).