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 2353

District of Richmond Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar H. A. Wilson

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

5 January 1925

Norman James Morris
Alice Mena Sigglekow

Norman James Morris
Alice Mena Sigglekow
💍 1925/1581

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
32

Hope
Hope

1 year
30 years

Methodist Church, Hope

25/2208

5 January 1925

J. R. Nelson, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman James Morris	Alice Mena Sigglekow
	💍 1925/1581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Hope	Hope
Length of Residence	1 year	30 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hope
Folio	25/2208
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. R. Nelson, Methodist

9 January 1925

Walter John Quinney
Olive Eliza Bartlett

Walter John Quinney
Olive Eliza Bartlett
💍 1925/1582

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill labourer
Domestic duties

26
32

Richmond
Richmond

5 days
32 years

St Albans Church, Appleby

25/2209

9 January 1925

F. J. Daynes, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Quinney	Olive Eliza Bartlett
	💍 1925/1582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	5 days	32 years
Marriage Place	St Albans Church, Appleby
Folio	25/2209
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1925
Officiating Minister	F. J. Daynes, Anglican

21 February 1925

George Wilson Strawbridge
Elizabeth Hart

George Wilson Strawbridge
Elizabeth Hart
💍 1925/1583

Widower 20-9-1902
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

58
50

Richmond
Richmond

50 years
23 years

Residence of W. G. Strawbridge, Richmond

25/2210

21 February 1925

E. T. Jones, Baptist

No	3
Date of Notice	21 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wilson Strawbridge	Elizabeth Hart
	💍 1925/1583
Condition	Widower 20-9-1902	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	58	50
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	50 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. G. Strawbridge, Richmond
Folio	25/2210
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	E. T. Jones, Baptist

11 March 1925

Geoffrey Harold Barrow
Melva Elizabeth Russ

Geoffrey Harold Barrow
Melva Elizabeth Mabel Russ
💍 1925/1561

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
23

Richmond
Richmond

3 days
23 years

Church of Christ, Richmond

25/2211

11 March 1925

J. G. Price, Church of Christ

No	4
Date of Notice	11 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Harold Barrow	Melva Elizabeth Russ
BDM Match (88%)	Geoffrey Harold Barrow	Melva Elizabeth Mabel Russ
	💍 1925/1561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Richmond
Folio	25/2211
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. G. Price, Church of Christ

24 March 1925

Norman Stratford
Eva Mary Bateup

Norman Stratford
Eva Mary Bateup
💍 1925/1562

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
26

Hope
Richmond

28 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Richmond

25/2212

24 March 1925

J. R. Nelson, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stratford	Eva Mary Bateup
	💍 1925/1562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Hope	Richmond
Length of Residence	28 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Richmond
Folio	25/2212
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. R. Nelson, Methodist

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).