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 2404

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 September 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

27 August 1925

McKinley Edward Henry Jessop
Ruby Myrtle Brown

McKinley Edward Henry Jessop
Ruby Myrtle Brown
💍 1925/7259

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
23 years

Church of England, Greymouth

25/7288

27 August 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	27 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	McKinley Edward Henry Jessop	Ruby Myrtle Brown
	💍 1925/7259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	25/7288
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

1 September 1925

Norman Leslie Thompson
Catherine Cornwall

Norman Leslie Thompson
Catherine Cornwall
💍 1925/7260

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Clerk

31
31

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 years
18 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

25/7289

1 September 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	1 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Leslie Thompson	Catherine Cornwall
	💍 1925/7260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Clerk
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/7289
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

7 September 1925

Stephen Aubrey Eric Weaver
Matilda Susan Fairhall

Stephen Aubrey Eric Weaver
Matilda Susan Fairhall
💍 1925/7261

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype operator
Domestic

28
29

Greymouth
Greymouth

28 years
29 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

25/7290

7 September 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	7 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Aubrey Eric Weaver	Matilda Susan Fairhall
	💍 1925/7261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype operator	Domestic
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	28 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/7290
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

14 September 1925

Alfred White
Bridget Lee

Alfred White
Bridget Lee
💍 1925/7262

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Agent
Barmaid

36
31

Greymouth
Greymouth

34 years
31 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

25/7291

14 September 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	14 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred White	Bridget Lee
	💍 1925/7262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Agent	Barmaid
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	34 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/7291
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

17 September 1925

Andrew Dalziel
Gertrude Ellen Adams

Andrew Dalziel
Gertrude Ellen Adams
💍 1925/7263

Widower 10-6-1922
Spinster

Farmer
Draper

46
52

Nelson Creek
Greymouth

23 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

25/7292

17 September 1925

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	17 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Dalziel	Gertrude Ellen Adams
	💍 1925/7263
Condition	Widower 10-6-1922	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Draper
Age	46	52
Dwelling Place	Nelson Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/7292
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

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).