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 2468

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. W. P. 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

20 April 1925

Raymond Arthur Boag
Elsie Augusta Lee

Raymond Arthur Boag
Elsie Augusta Lee
💍 1925/5127

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

22
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Ashburton

4964

20 April 1925

Rev. I. A. Vealie, Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	20 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Arthur Boag	Elsie Augusta Lee
	💍 1925/5127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	22	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	4964
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. A. Vealie, Methodist

23 April 1925

Robert Polston
Mabel Hampton

Robert Rolston
Mabel Hampton
💍 1925/5128

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

43
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
3 days

St. Stephens Church, Ashburton

4965

23 April 1925

Rev. J. G. Wiseman, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	23 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Polston	Mabel Hampton
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Rolston	Mabel Hampton
	💍 1925/5128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church, Ashburton
Folio	4965
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Wiseman, Church of England

24 April 1925

Francis Livingstone Maze
Katherine Helena McDonald

Francis Livingstone Maze
Catherine Helen Mabel McDonald
💍 1925/5129

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

30
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

At the dwelling of Arthington, Hampstead Place, Ashburton

4966

24 April 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	24 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Livingstone Maze	Katherine Helena McDonald
BDM Match (90%)	Francis Livingstone Maze	Catherine Helen Mabel McDonald
	💍 1925/5129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Arthington, Hampstead Place, Ashburton
Folio	4966
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

2 May 1925

Albert David Butterick
Winifred Mills

Albert David Butterick
Winifred Mills
💍 1925/5130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

28
24

Ashburton
Temuka

28 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Temuka

4967

2 May 1925

Rev. H. R. Fell, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	2 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert David Butterick	Winifred Mills
	💍 1925/5130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Temuka
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Temuka
Folio	4967
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Fell, Presbyterian

6 May 1925

Dominick O'Donnell
Louisa Dalby

Dominick O'Donnell
Louisa Dalby
💍 1925/5131

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

32
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 days
4 days

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

4968

6 May 1925

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	6 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dominick O'Donnell	Louisa Dalby
	💍 1925/5131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	4968
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, 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).