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 2197

District of Picton Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar J. H. Hale Deputy Registrar

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

27 July 1925

Walter Stewart
Mary Campbell

Walter Stewart
Mary Campbell
💍 1925/7170

John Ormoard Foster Howarth
Mary Campbell
💍 1925/9639

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

36
36

Picton
Picton

6 years
7 months

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Picton

25/7198

27 July 1925

Rev J M Thomson, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	27 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stewart	Mary Campbell
	💍 1925/7170
BDM Match (65%)	John Ormoard Foster Howarth	Mary Campbell
	💍 1925/9639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	6 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Picton
Folio	25/7198
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev J M Thomson, Presbyterian

29 July 1925

Norman Coleman Guest
Ida Olive Millicent Chapman

Norman Coleman Guest
Ida Olive Millicent Chapman
💍 1925/7171

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
27

Picton
Picton

Life
2 years

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Picton

25/7199

29 July 1925

Rev F Quintrell, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	29 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Coleman Guest	Ida Olive Millicent Chapman
	💍 1925/7171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Picton
Folio	25/7199
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev F Quintrell, Church of England

7 August 1925

Arthur Richard Barker
Daisy Constance Webber

Arthur Richard Barker
Daisy Constance Webber
💍 1925/7172

Widower
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Teacher

33
24

The Grove
The Grove

6 1/2 years
5 months

Registrars Office, Picton

25/7200

7 August 1925

No	8
Date of Notice	7 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Richard Barker	Daisy Constance Webber
	💍 1925/7172
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Teacher
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	The Grove	The Grove
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Picton
Folio	25/7200
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1925
Officiating Minister

8 September 1925

David Samuel Woolley
Ivy Madden

David Samuel Woolley
Ivy Madden
💍 1925/7180

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

31
27

Tuamarina, (from Blenheim)
Picton

-
7 years

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Picton

25/7201

8 September 1925

Rev F Quintrell, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	8 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Samuel Woolley	Ivy Madden
	💍 1925/7180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Tuamarina, (from Blenheim)	Picton
Length of Residence	-	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Picton
Folio	25/7201
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev F Quintrell, Church of England

28 September 1925

Frederick James Duffett
Maud Pemley Simmons

Frederick James Duffett
Maud Pemley Simmons
💍 1925/7191

Widower
Spinster

Boot Importer
Domestic Duties

40
25

Picton
Picton

4 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Picton

25/7202

28 September 1925

Rev F Bateup, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	28 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Duffett	Maud Pemley Simmons
	💍 1925/7191
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boot Importer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Picton
Folio	25/7202
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev F Bateup, 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).

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).