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 2343

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar Unknown

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

101

14 December 1925

Edwin Davy Richards
Myrtle Eugenie Cooksey

Edwin Davy Richards
Myrtle Eugenie Cooksey
💍 1925/641

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

42
25

Nelson
Nelson

2 days
23 years

Residence of Mrs. A. Cooksey, 11 Hampden Street West, Nelson

25/10061

14 December 1925

Rev. G. F. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

No	101
Date of Notice	14 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Davy Richards	Myrtle Eugenie Cooksey
	💍 1925/641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. A. Cooksey, 11 Hampden Street West, Nelson
Folio	25/10061
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

102

15 December 1925

William David Kenny
Rachel Elizabeth Hodgkinson

William David Kenny
Rachel Elizabeth Hodgkinson
💍 1925/642

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk P & T Dept.
Tea Room Proprietress

29
23

Nelson
Nelson

15 months
15 months

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

25/10062

15 December 1925

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	15 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Kenny	Rachel Elizabeth Hodgkinson
	💍 1925/642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk P & T Dept.	Tea Room Proprietress
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	25/10062
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

103

18 December 1925

Malcolm Frederick Henry Johnstone
Ann Enyna Smith Scott

Malcolm Frederick Henry Johnstone
Amy Emma Smith Scott
💍 1925/643

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Shop Assistant

29
29

Nelson
Nelson

29 years
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

25/10063

18 December 1925

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	103
Date of Notice	18 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Frederick Henry Johnstone	Ann Enyna Smith Scott
BDM Match (88%)	Malcolm Frederick Henry Johnstone	Amy Emma Smith Scott
	💍 1925/643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Shop Assistant
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	29 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	25/10063
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

104

22 December 1925

Ernest Sortain Smith
Inez Rosalie Hepworth

Ernest Sortain Smith
Inez Rosalie Hepworth
💍 1925/644

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Representative
Domestic

32
32

Nelson
Nelson

2 days
5 years

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/10064

22 December 1925

Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

No	104
Date of Notice	22 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sortain Smith	Inez Rosalie Hepworth
	💍 1925/644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Representative	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/10064
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

105

22 December 1925

Ernest Stewart Carey
Florence Mabel Thomson

Ernest Stewart Carey
Florence Mabel Thomson
💍 1926/457

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

26
23

Wellington
Nelson

-
23 years

Baptist Church, Nelson

26/133

22 December 1925

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	105
Date of Notice	22 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Stewart Carey	Florence Mabel Thomson
	💍 1926/457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Nelson
Length of Residence	-	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	26/133
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 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).