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 2486

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

12 January 1925

Daniel Reardon
Kathleen Bridget McAleer

Daniel Reardon
Kathleen Bridget McAleer
💍 1925/336

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital Attendant

25
30

Spreydon
Spreydon

3 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

1020

12 January 1925

P. O'Meeghan, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Reardon	Kathleen Bridget McAleer
	💍 1925/336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital Attendant
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	1020
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	P. O'Meeghan, Roman Catholic

12 January 1925

Ivanhoe Fred Stevens
Amelia Daphne Leith Cheesman

Ivanhoe Fred Stevens
Amelia Daphne Leith Cheesman
💍 1925/337

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Conductor

27
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
10 years

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

1021

12 January 1925

F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	27
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivanhoe Fred Stevens	Amelia Daphne Leith Cheesman
	💍 1925/337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Conductor
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	1021
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	F. N. Taylor, Anglican

12 January 1925

Edward Leslie Adams
Gladys Gertrude May Hoy

Edward Leslie Adams
Gladys Gertrude May Hoy
💍 1925/338

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Servant

28
26

Spreydon
Riccarton

Life
Life

St. Mary's Church Addington

1022

12 January 1925

W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Leslie Adams	Gladys Gertrude May Hoy
	💍 1925/338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Servant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Riccarton
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	1022
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. S. Bean, Anglican

12 January 1925

James Albert Helms
Margaret Catherine Dell

James Albert Helms
Margaret Catherine Dell
💍 1925/339

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
4 days

Congregational Church Linwood

1023

12 January 1925

I. Sarginson, Congregational

No	29
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Albert Helms	Margaret Catherine Dell
	💍 1925/339
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Linwood
Folio	1023
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	I. Sarginson, Congregational

12 January 1925

Hubert Noel Jarvis
Dorothy Ladysmith Clarke

Hubert Noel Jarvis
Dorothy Ladysmith Clarke
💍 1925/340

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

31
24

New Brighton
New Brighton

20 years
Life

St. Michael's Church Christchurch

1024

12 January 1925

C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Noel Jarvis	Dorothy Ladysmith Clarke
	💍 1925/340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	20 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	1024
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	C. E. Perry, 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).