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 2643

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

591

5 October 1925

Charles McLaren
Myra Grace Coe

Charles McLaren
Myra Grace Coe
💍 1925/8700

Divorced Decree Absolute 25.9.1920
Spinster

Lineman

52
30

Spreydon
Timaru

25 years
30 years

Residence of Rev. J. W. Hayward, 579 Barrington Street, Spreydon

8733

5 October 1925

J. W. Hayward, Presbyterian

No	591
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McLaren	Myra Grace Coe
	💍 1925/8700
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 25.9.1920	Spinster
Profession	Lineman
Age	52	30
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Timaru
Length of Residence	25 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. W. Hayward, 579 Barrington Street, Spreydon
Folio	8733
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. Hayward, Presbyterian

592

5 October 1925

Peter Robert Stanley Baxter
Eva May Cox

Peter Robert Stanley Basher
Eva May Cox
💍 1925/8701

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

32
27

Marshland
Marshland

5 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

8734

5 October 1925

Registrar

No	592
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Robert Stanley Baxter	Eva May Cox
BDM Match (96%)	Peter Robert Stanley Basher	Eva May Cox
	💍 1925/8701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Marshland
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	8734
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

593

5 October 1925

William Pettersen
Catherine Lois White

William Petheram
Catherine Lois White
💍 1925/8678

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26
25

Woolston
Woolston

13 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

8735

5 October 1925

D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

No	593
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pettersen	Catherine Lois White
BDM Match (88%)	William Petheram	Catherine Lois White
	💍 1925/8678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	13 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	8735
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

594

6 October 1925

Major Clement Ormandy
Myotte de Vere Walter

Major Clement Ormandy
Myrtle de Vere Walker
💍 1925/8679

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

38
31

Rangiora
Christchurch

9 years
1 week

St. John's Church, Christchurch

8736

6 October 1925

H. Purches, Anglican

No	594
Date of Notice	6 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Major Clement Ormandy	Myotte de Vere Walter
BDM Match (93%)	Major Clement Ormandy	Myrtle de Vere Walker
	💍 1925/8679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8736
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Purches, Anglican

595

6 October 1925

Daniel Andrew McCormick
Margaret Mary Ryan

Daniel Andrew McCormick
Margaret Mary Ryan
💍 1925/8680

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Agent

28
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 years
15 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

8737

6 October 1925

J. M. Roche, Roman Catholic

No	595
Date of Notice	6 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Andrew McCormick	Margaret Mary Ryan
	💍 1925/8680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	8737
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1925
Officiating Minister	J. M. Roche, Roman Catholic

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).