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 2331

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar 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

4 June 1925

Arthur George Schroder
Nellie Winifred Bernice Radford

Arthur George Schroder
Nellie Winifred Bernice Radford
💍 1925/4988

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

29
22

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
1 month

Presbyterian Church, Tahunanui

25/4895

4 June 1925

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	4 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Schroder	Nellie Winifred Bernice Radford
	💍 1925/4988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tahunanui
Folio	25/4895
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

5 June 1925

Nicholas Sannazzaro
Margaret Dorothy Mary Lyford

Nicholas Sannazzaro
Margaret Dorothy Mary Lyford
💍 1925/5502

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewery hand
Domestic

23
22

Nelson
Nelson

15 years
22 years

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson

25/5370

5 June 1925

Rev. R. Hoare, Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	5 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Sannazzaro	Margaret Dorothy Mary Lyford
	💍 1925/5502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewery hand	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	25/5370
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hoare, Catholic

10 June 1925

Ernest Lawton
Ada Mary Jeffreys

Ernest Lawton
Ada Mary Jeffreys
💍 1925/4989

Bachelor
Widow 18-10-1917

Clergyman
Domestic

42
39

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
14 days

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/4896

10 June 1925

Rt. Rev. Bishop Sadlier, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	10 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Lawton	Ada Mary Jeffreys
	💍 1925/4989
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 18-10-1917
Profession	Clergyman	Domestic
Age	42	39
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/4896
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. Bishop Sadlier, Church of England

19 June 1925

Jeffery Williamson Shallcrass
Florence Isabel Jane Hamilton

Jeffery Williamson Shallcross
Florence Isabel Jane Hamilton
💍 1925/10972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
24

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
24 years

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/4897

19 June 1925

Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	19 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeffery Williamson Shallcrass	Florence Isabel Jane Hamilton
BDM Match (98%)	Jeffery Williamson Shallcross	Florence Isabel Jane Hamilton
	💍 1925/10972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/4897
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

25 June 1925

Jack Gardner
Olive Margaret Lessels

Jack Gardner
Olive Margaret Lessels
💍 1925/10973

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Nurse

22
22

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
22 years

Residence of Major R. Sansom, 35 Collingwood Street, Nelson

25/4898

25 June 1925

Major R. Sansom, Salvation Army

No	50
Date of Notice	25 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Gardner	Olive Margaret Lessels
	💍 1925/10973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Nurse
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Major R. Sansom, 35 Collingwood Street, Nelson
Folio	25/4898
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Major R. Sansom, Salvation Army

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).