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 2477

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1955 Registrar D. W. White

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

5 October 1955

John Alexander Addis
Rosa Wypte Osborne

John Alexander Addis
Rosa Myrtle Osborne
💍 1925/10258

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

29
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 years
3 months

Methodist Church

10118

5 October 1955

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	69
Date of Notice	5 October 1955
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Addis	Rosa Wypte Osborne
BDM Match (92%)	John Alexander Addis	Rosa Myrtle Osborne
	💍 1925/10258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	10118
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1955
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

12 October 1955

George Victor Gelling
Nellie Hawley

George Victor Gelling
Nellie Kewley
💍 1925/10259

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

25
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
3 weeks

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church

10119

12 October 1955

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

No	70
Date of Notice	12 October 1955
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Victor Gelling	Nellie Hawley
BDM Match (92%)	George Victor Gelling	Nellie Kewley
	💍 1925/10259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	10119
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1955
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

15 October 1955

James Thompson Stoddart
Myrtle Emma Rooke

James Thompson Stoddart
Myrtle Emma Rooke
💍 1925/10260

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Baker

23
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

23 years
24 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church

10120

15 October 1955

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

No	71
Date of Notice	15 October 1955
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thompson Stoddart	Myrtle Emma Rooke
	💍 1925/10260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Baker
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	10120
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1955
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

16 October 1955

John Richard Watkinson
Eliza Jemima Watten

John Richard Makinson
Eliza Jemima Wotten
💍 1925/10262

Widower (25th November 1918)
Widow (5th June 1953)

Motor Mechanic
domestic duties

40
40

Ashburton
Ashburton

52 years
38 years

St. Stephens Church of England

10121

16 October 1955

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	16 October 1955
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Watkinson	Eliza Jemima Watten
BDM Match (93%)	John Richard Makinson	Eliza Jemima Wotten
	💍 1925/10262
Condition	Widower (25th November 1918)	Widow (5th June 1953)
Profession	Motor Mechanic	domestic duties
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	52 years	38 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England
Folio	10121
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1955
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

19 October 1955

Trevor Louis Baas
Fanny Elizabeth Somers Todd

Trevor Louis Baas
Fanny Elizabeth Somers Todd
💍 1925/10263

Bachelor
Widow (29th October 1953)

Labourer
domestic duties

21
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10122

19 October 1955

D. W. White, Registrar

No	73
Date of Notice	19 October 1955
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Louis Baas	Fanny Elizabeth Somers Todd
	💍 1925/10263
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (29th October 1953)
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10122
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1955
Officiating Minister	D. W. White, 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).