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 2417

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar W. H. [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

22 February 1924

George Sawyer Bramley
Annie Body

George Selwyn Bramley
Annie Body
💍 1924/10115

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

27
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 years
21 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

2138

22 February 1924

Rev. J. T. Wiseman, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	22 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sawyer Bramley	Annie Body
BDM Match (91%)	George Selwyn Bramley	Annie Body
	💍 1924/10115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2138
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Wiseman, Church of England

26 February 1924

Joseph Williams Kelleher
Mary Lee

Joseph William Kelleher
Mary Lee
💍 1924/10116

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

30
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
S

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

2139

26 February 1924

Rev. Thomas Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	26 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Williams Kelleher	Mary Lee
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph William Kelleher	Mary Lee
	💍 1924/10116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	S
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	2139
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

26 February 1924

Charles O'Grady
Winfrede Ann Fitzgerald

Charles OGrady
Winifrede Ann Fitzgerald
💍 1924/10117

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Tailoress

28
56

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 months

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

2140

26 February 1924

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	26 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles O'Grady	Winfrede Ann Fitzgerald
BDM Match (95%)	Charles OGrady	Winifrede Ann Fitzgerald
	💍 1924/10117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Tailoress
Age	28	56
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		10 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	2140
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

28 February 1924

Samuel Mitchell
Ida Alice Beubors

Samuel Mitchell
Ida Alice Benbow
💍 1924/10118

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

40
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
3 days

Church of England, Rakaia

2141

28 February 1924

Rev. E. A. Blakiston, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	28 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Mitchell	Ida Alice Beubors
BDM Match (91%)	Samuel Mitchell	Ida Alice Benbow
	💍 1924/10118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rakaia
Folio	2141
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Blakiston, Church of England

7 March 1924

William Rellow
Alice Smithies

William Dellow
Alice Smithies
💍 1924/10119

Widower
Spinster

Retired farmer
Domestic duties

64
53

Ashburton
Ashburton

39 years
10 years

At the dwelling of George [illegible], Bowman Street, Ashburton

2142

7 March 1924

Rev. A. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	7 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rellow	Alice Smithies
BDM Match (96%)	William Dellow	Alice Smithies
	💍 1924/10119
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired farmer	Domestic duties
Age	64	53
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	39 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of George [illegible], Bowman Street, Ashburton
Folio	2142
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Liddell, Methodist

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).