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 2473

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar Corodits

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 August 1925

George Henry Anderson
Amelia Alfreeda Perdue

George Henry Anderson
Amelia Alfreeda Purdue
💍 1925/7287

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
domestic duties

37
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

19 years
12 months

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

7316

19 August 1925

Rev. J. Wiseman, Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	19 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Anderson	Amelia Alfreeda Perdue
BDM Match (98%)	George Henry Anderson	Amelia Alfreeda Purdue
	💍 1925/7287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	domestic duties
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	19 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	7316
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wiseman, Church of England

19 August 1925

George Christmas Garriock
Ruby Brooks

George Christmas Garriock
Ruby Crooks
💍 1925/7288

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Teacher

36
37

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 months
9 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7317

19 August 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	19 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Christmas Garriock	Ruby Brooks
BDM Match (95%)	George Christmas Garriock	Ruby Crooks
	💍 1925/7288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Teacher
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7317
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

16 August 1925

John Christopher McCabe
Elizabeth Nora O'Keefe

John Christopher McCabe
Elizabeth Nora O'Keefe
💍 1925/7712

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
domestic duties

37
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

7743

16 August 1925

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	56
Date of Notice	16 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Christopher McCabe	Elizabeth Nora O'Keefe
	💍 1925/7712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	domestic duties
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	7743
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

21 August 1925

George Inglis Miller
Lettie Hunter

George Inglis Miller
Lettie Hunter
💍 1925/7289

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
domestic duties

36
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 months
26 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7318

21 August 1925

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	21 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Inglis Miller	Lettie Hunter
	💍 1925/7289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	domestic duties
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7318
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

31 August 1925

John Ross
Janet Cooper

John Ross
Janet Cowper
💍 1925/7290

Widower, 4th September 1914
Widow, 18th Feby 1918

Labourer
domestic duties

38
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 years
12 months

at the dwelling of John Ross, 98 Moore Street, Ashburton

7319

31 August 1925

Mr. John Kirk, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ross	Janet Cooper
BDM Match (96%)	John Ross	Janet Cowper
	💍 1925/7290
Condition	Widower, 4th September 1914	Widow, 18th Feby 1918
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 years	12 months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of John Ross, 98 Moore Street, Ashburton
Folio	7319
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Mr. John Kirk, 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).