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 2602

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar J. H. M. [illegible]

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

593

22 July 1925

Hugh Cornelius Broonatan
Gladys May Sanders

Hugh Cornelius Brosnahan
Gladys May Sanders
💍 1925/6196

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
24

Christchurch
Riccarton

6 months
8 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

6145

22 July 1925

P. Timoney, Roman Catholic

No	593
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Cornelius Broonatan	Gladys May Sanders
BDM Match (96%)	Hugh Cornelius Brosnahan	Gladys May Sanders
	💍 1925/6196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	6145
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	P. Timoney, Roman Catholic

594

22 July 1925

Frederick Howell Hill
Susanna Jane Pascoe

Frederick Howell Hill
Susanna Jane Pascoe
💍 1925/6197

Bachelor
Widow

Horse Trainer

32
36

Riccarton
Spreydon

3 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs. Pascoe, Wilton Street, Spreydon

6146

22 July 1925

J. McKeon, Roman Catholic

No	594
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Howell Hill	Susanna Jane Pascoe
	💍 1925/6197
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Horse Trainer
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Pascoe, Wilton Street, Spreydon
Folio	6146
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. McKeon, Roman Catholic

595

22 July 1925

Albert Oswald Jones
Noelene Jackman

Albert Oswald Jones
Noelene Jackman
💍 1925/6198

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
26

Counts Island
Christchurch

2 years
3 days

St. John's Church, Christchurch

6147

22 July 1925

J. W. P. C. Dyer, Anglican

No	595
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Oswald Jones	Noelene Jackman
	💍 1925/6198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Counts Island	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6147
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. P. C. Dyer, Anglican

596

22 July 1925

Percy Norman Daniel Sandford
Myrtle Gladys Oagers

Percy Norman Daniel Sandford
Myrtle Gladys Odgers
💍 1925/6200

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

22
25

Waltham
Waltham

Life
Life

Baptist Church, Wilsons Road, Opawa

6149

22 July 1925

J. C. N. Barbour, Baptist

No	596
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Norman Daniel Sandford	Myrtle Gladys Oagers
BDM Match (98%)	Percy Norman Daniel Sandford	Myrtle Gladys Odgers
	💍 1925/6200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Waltham	Waltham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Wilsons Road, Opawa
Folio	6149
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. C. N. Barbour, Baptist

597

23 July 1925

James Thomas Burrows
Mary Hogarth

James Thomas Burrows
Mary Hogarth
💍 1925/6201

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

26
24

Sydenham
Spreydon

3 years
6 months

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

6150

23 July 1925

C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	597
Date of Notice	23 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Burrows	Mary Hogarth
	💍 1925/6201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	6150
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1925
Officiating Minister	C. G. Mutter, Anglican

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).