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 2210

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar O. Fildes

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

13 May 1924

Thomas Daly
Ellen Kellegher

Thomas Daly
Ellen Kelleher
💍 1924/4076

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Waitress

43
30

Corbyvale
Westport

7 years
3 days

St. Canice's Roman Catholic Church, Westport

24/5485

13 May 1924

Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	13 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Daly	Ellen Kellegher
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Daly	Ellen Kelleher
	💍 1924/4076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Waitress
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Corbyvale	Westport
Length of Residence	7 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Canice's Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	24/5485
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

19 May 1924

John Joseph Lavery
Doris May Lowe

John Joseph Lavery
Doris May Lowe
💍 1924/1413

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
19

Sergeant's Hill
Sergeant's Hill

21 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Granity

24/4896

Emma Lowe, mother

19 May 1924

Rev. E. N. Poole, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	19 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Lavery	Doris May Lowe
	💍 1924/1413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Sergeant's Hill	Sergeant's Hill
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Granity
Folio	24/4896
Consent	Emma Lowe, mother
Date of Certificate	19 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. N. Poole, Presbyterian

28 May 1924

Isaiah Stanley Price
Bessie Champion

Isaiah Stanley Price
Bessie Champion
💍 1924/1411

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic servant

34
22

Tiromoana
Tiromoana

34 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. R. Price, Tiromoana

24/4894

28 May 1924

Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	28 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaiah Stanley Price	Bessie Champion
	💍 1924/1411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic servant
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Tiromoana	Tiromoana
Length of Residence	34 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Price, Tiromoana
Folio	24/4894
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

29 May 1924

Herbert Ashley Luff
Ruby Elizabeth Kezia McKenzie

Herbert Ashley Luff
Ruby Elizabeth Kezia McKenzie
💍 1924/1412

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Waitress

27
21

Westport
Westport

27 years
21 years

Church of England, Westport

24/4895

29 May 1924

Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	29 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ashley Luff	Ruby Elizabeth Kezia McKenzie
	💍 1924/1412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Waitress
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	27 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	24/4895
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

6 June 1924

Harold Roy Power
Margaret Francis Hogg

Harold Roy Power
Margaret Francis Hogg
💍 1924/4077

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic duties

26
21

Westport
Westport

6 months
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

24/5486

6 June 1924

Rev. E. Sweeney, Roman Catholic

No	15
Date of Notice	6 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Roy Power	Margaret Francis Hogg
	💍 1924/4077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	24/5486
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Sweeney, 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).