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 2395

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. McIndoe

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

19 February 1925

Frank William Pile
Lenna Sylvia Skilton

Frank William Pile
Lenna Sylvia Skilton
💍 1925/4650

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Duties

23
18

Cobden
Cobden

2 years
9 years

Church of England, Greymouth

25/2231

John Owen Skilton, father

19 February 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Pile	Lenna Sylvia Skilton
	💍 1925/4650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Cobden
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	25/2231
Consent	John Owen Skilton, father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

21 February 1925

Robert Hill
Margaret Christina Falkner

Robert Hill
Margaretta Christina Falkner
💍 1925/4651

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 17-12-1924)

Taxi driver
Domestic

36
41

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
1 year

Mr. C. Oram's Residence, Cobden

25/2232

21 February 1925

Rev. J. F. Martin, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	21 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hill	Margaret Christina Falkner
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Hill	Margaretta Christina Falkner
	💍 1925/4651
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 17-12-1924)
Profession	Taxi driver	Domestic
Age	36	41
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Mr. C. Oram's Residence, Cobden
Folio	25/2232
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Martin, Methodist

23 February 1925

Herbert Wearn
Gladys Dorothy Rugg

Herbert Wearn
Gladys Dorothy Rugg
💍 1925/4652

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Saleswoman

28
28

Auckland
Greymouth

1 week
28 years

Trinity Church, Greymouth

25/2233

23 February 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Wearn	Gladys Dorothy Rugg
	💍 1925/4652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Saleswoman
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 week	28 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/2233
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

23 February 1925

Arthur Albert Thistoll
Jestina Katherine Guy

Arthur Albert Thistoll
Jestina Catherine Guy
💍 1925/4653

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
6 weeks

Catholic Church, Greymouth

25/2234

23 February 1925

Rev. Father J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Albert Thistoll	Jestina Katherine Guy
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Albert Thistoll	Jestina Catherine Guy
	💍 1925/4653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/2234
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Long, Roman Catholic

13 March 1925

Thomas Stapleton
Helma Moore

Thomas Stapleton
Thelma Moore
💍 1925/4630

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Waitress

26
22

Greymouth
Cobden

2 years
20 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

25/2235

13 March 1925

Rev. Thomas O'Regan, Roman Catholic

No	15
Date of Notice	13 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stapleton	Helma Moore
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Stapleton	Thelma Moore
	💍 1925/4630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Waitress
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/2235
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas O'Regan, Roman Catholic

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).