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 2498

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

29 January 1925

John Brown Neilands
Edith Apsdale

John Brown Neilands
Edith Rysdale
💍 1925/317

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

32
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
3 years

Methodist Church, New Brighton

1078

29 January 1925

T. J. Read, Methodist

No	86
Date of Notice	29 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown Neilands	Edith Apsdale
BDM Match (92%)	John Brown Neilands	Edith Rysdale
	💍 1925/317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, New Brighton
Folio	1078
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1925
Officiating Minister	T. J. Read, Methodist

30 January 1925

William Henderson
Muriel Temmens

William Henderson
Muriel Semmens
💍 1925/318

Bachelor
Widow (8.1.1918)

Shepherd

36
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1079

30 January 1925

Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	30 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henderson	Muriel Temmens
BDM Match (96%)	William Henderson	Muriel Semmens
	💍 1925/318
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (8.1.1918)
Profession	Shepherd
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1079
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

30 January 1925

George Saunders
Miriam Rose Chivers

George Saunders
Miriam Rose Chivers
💍 1925/319

Divorced (Decree Absolute 3.11.1924)
Spinster

Labourer

49
30

Linwood
Linwood

5 years
26 years

Residence of Mrs. M. A. Chivers, 10 Burleys Road, Linwood

1080

30 January 1925

A. Stuart, Baptist

No	88
Date of Notice	30 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Saunders	Miriam Rose Chivers
	💍 1925/319
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 3.11.1924)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	49	30
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. A. Chivers, 10 Burleys Road, Linwood
Folio	1080
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1925
Officiating Minister	A. Stuart, Baptist

30 January 1925

Edward McFall McGuiness Gordon
Violette Evelyn Johnson

Edward McFall McGuiness Gordon
Myrte Evelyn Johnson
💍 1925/320

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

22
23

Ironside
Addington

2 years
Life

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1081

30 January 1925

W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	30 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McFall McGuiness Gordon	Violette Evelyn Johnson
BDM Match (87%)	Edward McFall McGuiness Gordon	Myrte Evelyn Johnson
	💍 1925/320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Ironside	Addington
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1081
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. B. Black, Presbyterian

30 January 1925

Leonard John Hayman
Evelyn Etel Adam

Leonard John Hayman
Evelyn Elsie Adam
💍 1925/321

Widower (8.9.1924)
Spinster

Railway Employee

25
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

St. Saviours Church, Sydenham

1082

30 January 1925

C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	90
Date of Notice	30 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Hayman	Evelyn Etel Adam
BDM Match (88%)	Leonard John Hayman	Evelyn Elsie Adam
	💍 1925/321
Condition	Widower (8.9.1924)	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Sydenham
Folio	1082
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 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).