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 2394

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. McIndoe

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 January 1925

George Henry Topp
Elizabeth Ruth Gofton

George Henry Topp
Elizabeth Ruth Gofton
💍 1925/4629

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Shop assistant

28
20

Dunollie
South Beach

2 years
1 month

Residence of Mr. V. McColl, South Beach, Greymouth

25/2226

George Gofton, father

27 January 1925

Rev. J. F. Martin, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	27 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Topp	Elizabeth Ruth Gofton
	💍 1925/4629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Shop assistant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Dunollie	South Beach
Length of Residence	2 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. V. McColl, South Beach, Greymouth
Folio	25/2226
Consent	George Gofton, father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Martin, Methodist

3 February 1925

John Charles Williams
Murial Grace Carson

John Charles Williams
Murial Grace Carson
💍 1925/4640

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

23 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Greymouth

25/2227

James Carson, father

3 February 1925

James McIndoe, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	3 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Williams	Murial Grace Carson
	💍 1925/4640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Greymouth
Folio	25/2227
Consent	James Carson, father
Date of Certificate	3 February 1925
Officiating Minister	James McIndoe, Registrar

6 February 1925

Fowler Prain
Eulalie Morris Hodgkinson

Fowler Prain
Culalie Morris Hodgkinson
💍 1925/4647

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic

27
21

Napier
Greymouth

2 days
21 years

Church of England, Greymouth

25/2228

6 February 1925

T. N. Cuttle, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fowler Prain	Eulalie Morris Hodgkinson
BDM Match (98%)	Fowler Prain	Culalie Morris Hodgkinson
	💍 1925/4647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	25/2228
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	T. N. Cuttle, Presbyterian

6 February 1925

David Joseph Yorwarth
Beulah Jane Masciorini

David Joseph Yorwarth
Beulah Jane Masciorini
💍 1925/4648

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic

23
18

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

25/2229

under section 27

21 February 1925

T. N. Cuttle, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Joseph Yorwarth	Beulah Jane Masciorini
	💍 1925/4648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/2229
Consent	under section 27
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	T. N. Cuttle, Presbyterian

18 February 1925

John Joseph Horan
Clara Ellen Clarke

John Joseph Horan
Clara Ellen Clarke
💍 1925/4649

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
30

Coal Creek
Greymouth

40 years
30 years

St Patricks Church, Greymouth

25/2230

18 February 1925

Rev. Father O'Regan, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	18 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Horan	Clara Ellen Clarke
	💍 1925/4649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Coal Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence	40 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church, Greymouth
Folio	25/2230
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Regan, 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).