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 2324

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar F. Mitchell

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

2 March 1925

Harry Llewellyn Haase
Minnie Fear

Harry Llewellyn Haase
Minnie Fear
💍 1925/1544

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Dressmaker

30
23

Nelson
Nelson

30 years
23 years

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/2194

2 March 1925

Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Llewellyn Haase	Minnie Fear
	💍 1925/1544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Dressmaker
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/2194
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

2 March 1925

John William Blick
Emma Elizabeth Grice

John William Blick
Emma Elizabeth Grice
💍 1925/1545

Divorced (Decree absolute 11-3-1924)
Widow (17-3-1922)

Labourer
Domestic

55
49

Nelson
Nelson

55 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. Aleck Gray, Weka St., Nelson

25/2195

2 March 1925

Commandant Sanson, Salvation Army

No	17
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Blick	Emma Elizabeth Grice
	💍 1925/1545
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 11-3-1924)	Widow (17-3-1922)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	55	49
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	55 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Aleck Gray, Weka St., Nelson
Folio	25/2195
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Commandant Sanson, Salvation Army

4 March 1925

Reginald Wilfred Martin
Elizabeth Constance Blincoe

Reginald Wilfred Martin
Elizabeth Constance Blincoe
💍 1925/1547

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
23

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

25/2196

4 March 1925

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	4 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Wilfred Martin	Elizabeth Constance Blincoe
	💍 1925/1547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	25/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

5 March 1925

Fred Fowler
Myrtie Elsie Thelma Harman

Fred Fowler
Myrtle Elsie Thelma Harman
💍 1925/1548

Bachelor
Spinster

Exchange Clerk
Domestic

18
20

Richmond
Nelson

14 years
7 days

Office of Registrar, Nelson

25/2197

Alex Fowler (father), Henry Harman (father)

5 March 1925

F. Mitchell, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	5 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Fowler	Myrtie Elsie Thelma Harman
BDM Match (98%)	Fred Fowler	Myrtle Elsie Thelma Harman
	💍 1925/1548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Exchange Clerk	Domestic
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Nelson
Folio	25/2197
Consent	Alex Fowler (father), Henry Harman (father)
Date of Certificate	5 March 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar

9 March 1925

William Albert Darling
Mabel Carney

William Albert Darling
Mabel Carney
💍 1925/1549

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

35
32

Nelson
Nelson

7 months
7 months

Office of Registrar, Nelson

25/2198

9 March 1925

F. Mitchell, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Darling	Mabel Carney
	💍 1925/1549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Nelson
Folio	25/2198
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar

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).