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 2383

District of Waimea South Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar E. McPherson

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

28 October 1925

James Campbell Baigent
Florence Brooks

James Campbell Baigent
Florence Brooks
💍 1925/10368

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Wakefield
Wakefield

25 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. James Brooks, 88 Valley, Wakefield

25/10081

28 October 1925

John Watt, Church of Christ

No	14
Date of Notice	28 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Campbell Baigent	Florence Brooks
	💍 1925/10368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Brooks, 88 Valley, Wakefield
Folio	25/10081
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1925
Officiating Minister	John Watt, Church of Christ

19 November 1925

Stanley Willetts
Vera Maud Coleman

Stanley Willetts
Vera Maud Coleman
💍 1925/10369

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

27
20

Motupiko
Motupiko

3 days
20 years

Residence of Mr. Alfred Coleman, Motupiko

25/10082

Jane Coleman, Mother

16 November 1925

George Thomas Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

No	15
Date of Notice	19 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Willetts	Vera Maud Coleman
	💍 1925/10369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Motupiko	Motupiko
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Alfred Coleman, Motupiko
Folio	25/10082
Consent	Jane Coleman, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 November 1925
Officiating Minister	George Thomas Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

1 December 1925

Stanley Vincent-Marsh Thorn
Eva Minetta Kerr

Stanley Vincent Marsh Thorn
Eva Minetta Kerr
💍 1925/10370

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

24
24

Rai Falls
Foxhill

3 days
24 years

Church of Christ, Wai-iti

25/10083

1 December 1925

John Watt, Church of Christ

No	16
Date of Notice	1 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Vincent-Marsh Thorn	Eva Minetta Kerr
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Vincent Marsh Thorn	Eva Minetta Kerr
	💍 1925/10370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Rai Falls	Foxhill
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Wai-iti
Folio	25/10083
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1925
Officiating Minister	John Watt, Church of Christ

12 December 1925

Claude Mabey
Rona Sylvia Burnard

Claude Mabey
Rona Sylvia Burnard
💍 1925/10371

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
21

Stanley Brook
Motueka

5 years
21 years

Methodist Parsonage, Motueka

25/10084

12 December 1925

Rev. Henry Benny, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	12 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Mabey	Rona Sylvia Burnard
	💍 1925/10371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Stanley Brook	Motueka
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Motueka
Folio	25/10084
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Benny, Methodist

24 December 1925

Ashley Newman Hill
Gladys Charlotte Grieg

Ashley Newman Hill
Gladys Charlotte Greig
💍 1925/10372

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
24

Brightwater
Spring Grove

31 years
24 years

Church of Christ, Spring Grove

25/10085

24 December 1925

John Watt, Church of Christ

No	18
Date of Notice	24 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ashley Newman Hill	Gladys Charlotte Grieg
BDM Match (95%)	Ashley Newman Hill	Gladys Charlotte Greig
	💍 1925/10372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Brightwater	Spring Grove
Length of Residence	31 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Spring Grove
Folio	25/10085
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1925
Officiating Minister	John Watt, Church of Christ

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).