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 2463

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar Brownlee

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

6 March 1925

Frederick William Burkery
Ethel Florence Wilhelmina Parsons

Frederick William Burbery
Ethel Florence Wilhelmina Parsons
💍 1925/1590

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric linesman
Domestic duties

73
50

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
20 years

Church of England, Ashburton

2265

Harriett Parsons (Widow), Mother of minor

6 March 1925

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	6 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Burkery	Ethel Florence Wilhelmina Parsons
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Burbery	Ethel Florence Wilhelmina Parsons
	💍 1925/1590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric linesman	Domestic duties
Age	73	50
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2265
Consent	Harriett Parsons (Widow), Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	6 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

10 March 1925

Robert Douglas Fish
Eileen Olga Haack

Robert Douglas Nish
Eileen Olga Haack
💍 1925/1591

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

72
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

52 years
24 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

2266

10 March 1925

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	10 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Douglas Fish	Eileen Olga Haack
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Douglas Nish	Eileen Olga Haack
	💍 1925/1591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	72	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	52 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2266
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

11 March 1925

John Grierson
Katherine Jane Taylor Doyle

John Grierson
Catherine Jane Taylor Doyle
💍 1925/1592

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

43
45

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
5 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2267

11 March 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	11 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grierson	Katherine Jane Taylor Doyle
BDM Match (98%)	John Grierson	Catherine Jane Taylor Doyle
	💍 1925/1592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	43	45
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2267
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

11 March 1925

John Sunbeam
Agnes Margaret Smith

John Sunbeam
Agnes Margaret Smith
💍 1925/1593

John Henry Bell
Ethel Margaret Smith
💍 1925/6385

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
18

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 months
7 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

2268

Martha Smith, Mother of minor

11 March 1925

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	11 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sunbeam	Agnes Margaret Smith
	💍 1925/1593
BDM Match (63%)	John Henry Bell	Ethel Margaret Smith
	💍 1925/6385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2268
Consent	Martha Smith, Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	11 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

15 March 1925

Cecil Frederick McKenzie
Hester Annie Hill

Cecil Frederick McKenzie
Hester Annie Hill
💍 1925/1594

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 months
9 months

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2269

12 March 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	15 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Frederick McKenzie	Hester Annie Hill
	💍 1925/1594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2269
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

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).