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 2516

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

176

28 February 1925

Jack Munro
Selina Kiely

Jack Munro
Selina Kiely
💍 1925/381

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 months
2 months

St. Mary's Presbytery, Manchester Street, Christchurch

1166

28 February 1925

J. W. Roche, Roman Catholic

No	176
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Munro	Selina Kiely
	💍 1925/381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Presbytery, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	1166
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. Roche, Roman Catholic

177

28 February 1925

Martin Joseph Moeltan
Elsie Barbara McWilliam

Martin Joseph Mechan
Elsie Barbara McWilliam
💍 1925/382

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 months
3 days

St. Mary's Presbytery, Manchester Street, Christchurch

1167

28 February 1925

J. W. Roche, Roman Catholic

No	177
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Joseph Moeltan	Elsie Barbara McWilliam
BDM Match (93%)	Martin Joseph Mechan	Elsie Barbara McWilliam
	💍 1925/382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Presbytery, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	1167
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. Roche, Roman Catholic

178

28 February 1925

William Francis Scott
Moyra Jane Hunter McFarlane

William Francis Scott
Myra Jane Hunter McFarlane
💍 1925/383

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

19
20

Linwood
Spreydon

Life
6 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1168

Samuel Francis Scott, father; Daniel McFarlane, father

28 February 1925

Registrar

No	178
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Scott	Moyra Jane Hunter McFarlane
BDM Match (98%)	William Francis Scott	Myra Jane Hunter McFarlane
	💍 1925/383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Spreydon
Length of Residence	Life	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1168
Consent	Samuel Francis Scott, father; Daniel McFarlane, father
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

179

28 February 1925

John Fyzackerley
Frances Evelyn Rule

John Fazackerley
Francis Evelyn Rule
💍 1925/385

Bachelor
Spinster

Lineman

25
22

Upper Riccarton
Upper Riccarton

2 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Upper Riccarton

1169

28 February 1925

B. James, Methodist

No	179
Date of Notice	28 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fyzackerley	Frances Evelyn Rule
BDM Match (94%)	John Fazackerley	Francis Evelyn Rule
	💍 1925/385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lineman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Upper Riccarton	Upper Riccarton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	1169
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1925
Officiating Minister	B. James, Methodist

180

2 March 1925

Gerald Holrawood Anderson
Agnes Wilhelmina Turrell

Gerald Holmwood Anderson
Agnes Wilhelmina Turrell
💍 1925/386

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

35
24

St. Martins
Little River

Life
12 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

1170

2 March 1925

P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	180
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Holrawood Anderson	Agnes Wilhelmina Turrell
BDM Match (96%)	Gerald Holmwood Anderson	Agnes Wilhelmina Turrell
	💍 1925/386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	St. Martins	Little River
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1170
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	P. B. Haggitt, 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).