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 2464

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar D. G. Wright

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

13 March 1925

Richard Lane
Margaret Anderson

Richard Lane
Margaret Anderson
💍 1925/1596

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

47
36

Ashburton
Ashburton

35 years
12 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2270

13 March 1925

Rev. Al. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	13 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Lane	Margaret Anderson
	💍 1925/1596
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	35 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2270
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Al. Irvine, Presbyterian

14 March 1925

Frederick William Morgan Watson
Clara Lillian Beattie

Frederick William Morgan Watson
Clara Lillian Beattie
💍 1925/1597

Bachelor
Spinster

carrier
domestic duties

28
30

Ashburton
Christchurch

5 years
30 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch

2271

14 March 1925

Rev. N. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	14 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Morgan Watson	Clara Lillian Beattie
	💍 1925/1597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carrier	domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch
Folio	2271
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

20 March 1925

James Monmouth Hodges
Belinda Catherine Oakley

James Monmouth Hodges
Belinda Catherine Oakley
💍 1925/1598

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveler
domestic duties

29
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

29 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2272

20 March 1925

Rev. Al. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	20 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Monmouth Hodges	Belinda Catherine Oakley
	💍 1925/1598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveler	domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		29 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2272
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Al. Irvine, Presbyterian

23 March 1925

Isaac Lewis
Rebecca McClintock

Isaac Lewis
Rebecca McClintock
💍 1925/1599

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

54
40

Ashburton
Ashburton

50 years
7 days

Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton

2273

23 March 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Lewis	Rebecca McClintock
	💍 1925/1599
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	54	40
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	50 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton
Folio	2273
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

24 March 1925

David Bloomfield
Myrtle Eliza Kegg

David Bloomfield
Myrtle Eliza Legg
💍 1925/1600

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

50
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 months
21 years

Salvation Army Hall, Ashburton

2274

Emily Frances Bloomfield, Widow, Mother of minor

24 March 1925

George H. Pratt, Ensign, Salvation Army

No	20
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Bloomfield	Myrtle Eliza Kegg
BDM Match (97%)	David Bloomfield	Myrtle Eliza Legg
	💍 1925/1600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	50	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Ashburton
Folio	2274
Consent	Emily Frances Bloomfield, Widow, Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	George H. Pratt, Ensign, Salvation Army

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).