Intentions to Marry, 1925 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840533, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925f contains pages 2177-2702, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2179

District of Kaikoura Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar E. 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

7 April 1925

Albert Valentine Baker
Maude Isabella May Elder

Albert Valentine Baker
Maude Isabella May Elder
💍 1925/5058

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
27

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

3 days
3 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura

4802

7 April 1925

Rev. Wm Mc Ara, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Valentine Baker	Maude Isabella May Elder
	💍 1925/5058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura
Folio	4802
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Mc Ara, Presbyterian

9 April 1925

Walter Lawson
Edith Maria Yeabsley

Walter Lawson
Edith Maria Yeabsley
💍 1925/5065

Bachelor
Widow

Sheep Farmer
Confectioner

47
42

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

47 years
10 years

Dwelling house of Mrs Edith Maria Yeabsley, Kaikoura

4803

9 April 1925

Rev. J. G. S. Dunn, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Lawson	Edith Maria Yeabsley
	💍 1925/5065
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Confectioner
Age	47	42
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	47 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs Edith Maria Yeabsley, Kaikoura
Folio	4803
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Dunn, Presbyterian

17 April 1925

Henry Clarke
Iris Enda May Diamanti Clark

Henry Clarke
Iris Enda May Diamanti Clark
💍 1925/5066

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Nurse

35
24

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

3 years
3 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Kaikoura

4804

17 April 1925

L. S. Shannon, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	5
Date of Notice	17 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clarke	Iris Enda May Diamanti Clark
	💍 1925/5066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Nurse
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Kaikoura
Folio	4804
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1925
Officiating Minister	L. S. Shannon, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

4 May 1925

Ernest Frank Harris
Margarete Fairy Frances Leader

Ernest Frank Harris
Margarete Fairy Frances Leeder
💍 1925/5067

Widower (16 Oct 1920)
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
22

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

28 years
8 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura

4805

4 May 1925

Rev. J. G. S. Dunn, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	4 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Frank Harris	Margarete Fairy Frances Leader
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Frank Harris	Margarete Fairy Frances Leeder
	💍 1925/5067
Condition	Widower (16 Oct 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	28 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura
Folio	4805
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Dunn, Presbyterian

9 May 1925

William Thomson
Amelia Evelyn Downes

William Thomson
Amelia Evelyn Downes
💍 1925/5068

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Clarence Reserve, Kaikoura
Clarence Reserve, Kaikoura

10 years
22 years

St Peters Anglican Church, Kaikoura

4806

9 May 1925

Rev. C. F. Saunders, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	9 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomson	Amelia Evelyn Downes
	💍 1925/5068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Clarence Reserve, Kaikoura	Clarence Reserve, Kaikoura
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Anglican Church, Kaikoura
Folio	4806
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Saunders, 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).