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 2419

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar J. D. Burns

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

16 October 1925

Arthur Lawrence Grieve
Sarah Caroline Wallace

Arthur Lawrence Grieve
Sarah Caroline Wallace
💍 1925/10270

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgehand
Waitress

25
22

Hokitika
Hokitika

18 months
3 years

The All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

10106

Rev. John Perkins, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	16 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lawrence Grieve	Sarah Caroline Wallace
	💍 1925/10270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgehand	Waitress
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	The All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	10106
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Perkins, Anglican

13 November 1925

Percy Noel Goodfellow
Eva Thomas

Percy Noel Goodfellow
Eva Thomas
💍 1925/10271

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

21
27

Hokitika
Hokitika

21 years
2 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

10107

Rev. G. F. Jack, Methodist

No	31
Date of Notice	13 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Noel Goodfellow	Eva Thomas
	💍 1925/10271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hokitika
Folio	10107
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Jack, Methodist

8 December 1925

Henry Olof Olson
Ivy Muriel Shadbolt

Henry Olof Olson
Ivy Muriel Shadbolt
💍 1925/10272

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

29
17

Ruatapu
Ruatapu

26 years
17 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

10108

George Shadbolt, Father

5 December 1925

Rev. G. Perkins, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	8 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Olof Olson	Ivy Muriel Shadbolt
	💍 1925/10272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Ruatapu	Ruatapu
Length of Residence	26 years	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	10108
Consent	George Shadbolt, Father
Date of Certificate	5 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Perkins, Anglican

10 December 1925

George Henry Fearn
Mary Malvina Growcott

George Henry Fearn
Mary Malvina Growcott
💍 1925/10273

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Employee
Domestic

22
23

Koiterangi
Koiterangi

6 years
10 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

10109

Rev. G. Perkins, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	10 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Fearn	Mary Malvina Growcott
	💍 1925/10273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Employee	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Koiterangi	Koiterangi
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	10109
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Perkins, Anglican

10 December 1925

Norman Garnet Wilson
Elsie Myrtle Paterson

Norman Garnet Wilson
Elsie Myrtle Paterson
💍 1925/10274

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

31
27

Hokitika
Hokitika

31 years
27 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

10110

J. D. Burns, Deputy Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	10 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Garnet Wilson	Elsie Myrtle Paterson
	💍 1925/10274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	31 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	10110
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	J. D. Burns, Deputy Registrar

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).