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 2329

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

27 April 1925

Maurice Howard Clements
Eileen May McKegney

Maurice Howard Clements
Eileen May McKegney
💍 1925/4977

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Domestic

25
20

Nelson
Nelson

25 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Nelson

25/4885

Emily McKegney, mother

27 April 1925

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	27 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Howard Clements	Eileen May McKegney
	💍 1925/4977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	25/4885
Consent	Emily McKegney, mother
Date of Certificate	27 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

4 May 1925

William Taylor
Maud Pickering

William Taylor
Maud Pickering
💍 1925/4978

Widower 5-12-1921
Widow 21-10-1921

Engine driver
Domestic

62
64

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

25/4886

4 May 1925

F. C. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

No	37
Date of Notice	4 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Taylor	Maud Pickering
	💍 1925/4978
Condition	Widower 5-12-1921	Widow 21-10-1921
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	62	64
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	25/4886
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1925
Officiating Minister	F. C. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

4 May 1925

James Campbell Johnston
Ellen Isobel Green

James Campbell Johnston
Ellen Isobel Green
💍 1925/4979

Bachelor
Spinster

Forest ranger
Domestic

32
25

Nelson
Nelson

2 days
25 years

Church of England, Tahunanui

25/4887

4 May 1925

Rev. A. Milgrew, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	4 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Campbell Johnston	Ellen Isobel Green
	💍 1925/4979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Forest ranger	Domestic
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tahunanui
Folio	25/4887
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Milgrew, Church of England

8 May 1925

Arthur McKnight Kain
Florence Mary Corder

Arthur McKnight Kain
Florence Mary Corder
💍 1925/4980

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
22

Nelson
Nelson

2 days
22 years

St Andrews Church, Hillside, Atawhai

25/4888

8 May 1925

Rev. G. H. Schurr, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	8 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur McKnight Kain	Florence Mary Corder
	💍 1925/4980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Hillside, Atawhai
Folio	25/4888
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Schurr, Church of England

11 May 1925

Alfred Ashton Hollyman
Rona Elizabeth McNabb

Alfred Ashton Hollyman
Rona Elizabeth McNabb
💍 1925/4981

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop assistant
Domestic

20
17

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
2 years

Baptist Church, Nelson

25/4889

James William Hollyman (father), Arthur William McNabb (father)

11 May 1925

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	40
Date of Notice	11 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ashton Hollyman	Rona Elizabeth McNabb
	💍 1925/4981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop assistant	Domestic
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	25/4889
Consent	James William Hollyman (father), Arthur William McNabb (father)
Date of Certificate	11 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

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).