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 2205

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar A. S. Bent

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

6 April 1925

Frederick George Adams
Eunice May Clare Henderson

Frederick George Adams
Eunice May Clare Henderson
💍 1925/5053

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
School teacher

23
21

Ward
Grassmere

20 years
21 years

Anglican Church, Blenheim

25/4815

6 April 1925

Rev. O. J.. Kimberley, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Adams	Eunice May Clare Henderson
	💍 1925/5053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	School teacher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Ward	Grassmere
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Blenheim
Folio	25/4815
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. J.. Kimberley, Church of England

7 April 1925

William Tait
Ella Evelyn Murray Thompson

William Tait
Ella Evelyn Murray Thompson
💍 1925/5054

Widower 8-5-1919
Spinster

Car-painter
Saleswoman

49
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

25 years
27 years

Wesley Church, Blenheim

25/4816

7 April 1925

Rev. William Grigg, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tait	Ella Evelyn Murray Thompson
	💍 1925/5054
Condition	Widower 8-5-1919	Spinster
Profession	Car-painter	Saleswoman
Age	49	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	25 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Blenheim
Folio	25/4816
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grigg, Methodist

7 April 1925

William Sydney Jeffreys Bryant
Mary Ann Rowe Gibson

William Sydney Paisley Jeffreys Bryant
Mary Anne Rowe Gibson
💍 1925/5055

Widower 6-9-1914
Spinster

Sawmiller
School teacher

44
21

Rai Falls
Spring Creek

3 years
21 years

Church of England, Spring Creek

25/4817

7 April 1925

Canon William Wollstein, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sydney Jeffreys Bryant	Mary Ann Rowe Gibson
BDM Match (87%)	William Sydney Paisley Jeffreys Bryant	Mary Anne Rowe Gibson
	💍 1925/5055
Condition	Widower 6-9-1914	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	School teacher
Age	44	21
Dwelling Place	Rai Falls	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Spring Creek
Folio	25/4817
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Canon William Wollstein, Church of England

9 April 1925

Allan Outridge Cresswell
Grace Susan Landon-Lane

Allan Outridge Cresswell
Grace Susan Landon-Lane
💍 1925/5056

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
23

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

23 years
23 years

Church of Holy Nativity, Blenheim

25/4818

9 April 1925

Archdeacon G. W. York, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Outridge Cresswell	Grace Susan Landon-Lane
	💍 1925/5056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of Holy Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	25/4818
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon G. W. York, Church of England

16 April 1925

Andrew Siddons Dry
Iris Louisa Rouse

Andrew Siddons Dry
Iris Louisa Rouse
💍 1925/5057

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
20

Grovetown
Grovetown

26 years
20 years

St Michaels Church, Grovetown

25/4819

Clara Gladys Sadd, Mother

16 April 1925

Canon William Wollstein, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	16 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Siddons Dry	Iris Louisa Rouse
	💍 1925/5057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Michaels Church, Grovetown
Folio	25/4819
Consent	Clara Gladys Sadd, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Canon William Wollstein, 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).