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 2327

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar F. Mitchell

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

2 April 1925

John Charles Rumbles Topp
Ruth Iveline Simpson

John Charles Rumbles Topp
Ruth Ireline Simpson
💍 1925/5015

Widower 12-12-1923
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

34
20

Nelson
Motueka

9 months
1 day

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

25/4875

Robert John Donald Simpson, father

2 April 1925

F. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

No	26
Date of Notice	2 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Rumbles Topp	Ruth Iveline Simpson
BDM Match (98%)	John Charles Rumbles Topp	Ruth Ireline Simpson
	💍 1925/5015
Condition	Widower 12-12-1923	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Motueka
Length of Residence	9 months	1 day
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	25/4875
Consent	Robert John Donald Simpson, father
Date of Certificate	2 April 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

8 April 1925

Kenneth William Exton
Elizabeth Potts

Kenneth William Exton
Elizabeth Potts
💍 1925/4976

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Factory employee

25
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
1 1/2 years

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/4876

8 April 1925

Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth William Exton	Elizabeth Potts
	💍 1925/4976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Factory employee
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/4876
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

11 April 1925

Cedric Joseph Urwin Casey
Teresa Forbes

Cedric Joseph Urwin Casey
Teresa Forbes
💍 1925/4987

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

22
25

Nelson
Wellington

3 days
-

Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

25/4877

11 April 1925

Rev. J. J. Cullen, Catholic priest

No	28
Date of Notice	11 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cedric Joseph Urwin Casey	Teresa Forbes
	💍 1925/4987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	-
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	25/4877
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Cullen, Catholic priest

15 April 1925

George William McDonald
Minnie Drucella Granger

George William McDonald
Minnie Drucella Granger
💍 1925/4992

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolskin buyer
Domestic

22
20

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
6 months

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

25/4878

John William Granger, father

15 April 1925

F. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

No	29
Date of Notice	15 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William McDonald	Minnie Drucella Granger
	💍 1925/4992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolskin buyer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	25/4878
Consent	John William Granger, father
Date of Certificate	15 April 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

18 April 1925

Martin Henry Thorn
Grace Annie Hodges

Martin Henry Thorn
Grace Annie Hodges
💍 1925/4993

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
30

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church of England, Nelson

25/4879

18 April 1925

Rev. Canon Dart, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	18 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Henry Thorn	Grace Annie Hodges
	💍 1925/4993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/4879
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Dart, 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).