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 2531

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1925

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

251

25 January 1925

Alfred William Southen
Lauren Margaret Francis Ealam

Alfred William Southen
Laureen Margaret Frances Ealam
💍 1925/9864

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
18

Opawa
Riccarton

2 years
4 years

St. Peter's Church

1226

Thomas George Ealam, Father

26 January 1925

H. T. York, Anglican

No	251
Date of Notice	25 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Southen	Lauren Margaret Francis Ealam
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred William Southen	Laureen Margaret Frances Ealam
	💍 1925/9864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Riccarton
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	1226
Consent	Thomas George Ealam, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	H. T. York, Anglican

252

26 January 1925

James Keith Denholm
Coyotte Josephine Dawse

James Keith Denholm
Myrtle Josephine Dowse
💍 1925/9871

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
24

Waimate
St. Albans

20 years
3 months

St. Matthew's Church, Christchurch

1227

26 January 1925

S. Hamilton, Anglican

No	252
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Keith Denholm	Coyotte Josephine Dawse
BDM Match (89%)	James Keith Denholm	Myrtle Josephine Dowse
	💍 1925/9871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Waimate	St. Albans
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1227
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	S. Hamilton, Anglican

253

26 January 1925

William Henry Barton
Jane Elizabeth Poust

William Henry Barton
Jane Elizabeth Priest
💍 1925/9872

Widower
Spinster

Retired Fruitener

56
40

St. Albans
Papanui

30 years
39 years

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

1228

26 January 1925

W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	253
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Barton	Jane Elizabeth Poust
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry Barton	Jane Elizabeth Priest
	💍 1925/9872
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired Fruitener
Age	56	40
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Papanui
Length of Residence	30 years	39 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	1228
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. A. Hay, Methodist

254

26 January 1925

Albert Edward Howe
Ida Kathleen Renn

Albert Edward Howe
Ida Kathleen Renn
💍 1925/9873

Bachelor
Spinster

Bagmaker

21
22

St. Albans
Shirley

8 years
10 years

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans

1229

26 January 1925

S. Hamilton, Anglican

No	254
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Howe	Ida Kathleen Renn
	💍 1925/9873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bagmaker
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Shirley
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans
Folio	1229
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	S. Hamilton, Anglican

255

26 January 1925

Kenneth Ian McIntosh
Edith Latham

Kenneth Ian McIntosh
Edith Latham
💍 1925/9874

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
20

St. Albans
Opawa

Life
1 year

Baptist Church, Opawa

1230

George Robert Latham, Father

26 January 1925

S. C. H. Barbour, Baptist

No	255
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Ian McIntosh	Edith Latham
	💍 1925/9874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Opawa
Length of Residence	Life	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Opawa
Folio	1230
Consent	George Robert Latham, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	S. C. H. Barbour, Baptist

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).