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 2208

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar A. F. Bent

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

28 May 1925

Johannes Hinrichsen
Hilda May Anderson

Johannes Hinriehsen
Hilda May Anderson
💍 1925/4971

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

49
41

Pukaka Valley, Spring Creek
Blenheim

30 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

25/4830

28 May 1925

A. F. Bent, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	28 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johannes Hinrichsen	Hilda May Anderson
BDM Match (97%)	Johannes Hinriehsen	Hilda May Anderson
	💍 1925/4971
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	49	41
Dwelling Place	Pukaka Valley, Spring Creek	Blenheim
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	25/4830
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1925
Officiating Minister	A. F. Bent, Registrar

29 May 1925

Allan Alexander Weaver
Alison Louisa Grace Gibson

Allan Alexander Weaver
Alison Louisa Grace Gibson
💍 1925/4972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
18

Kaituna
Kaituna

22 years
18 years

Church of Holy Nativity, Blenheim

25/4831

Elizabeth Gibson, mother

29 May 1925

Archdeacon George William York, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Alexander Weaver	Alison Louisa Grace Gibson
	💍 1925/4972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Kaituna	Kaituna
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of Holy Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	25/4831
Consent	Elizabeth Gibson, mother
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon George William York, Church of England

2 June 1925

Walter Ewart Godsiff
Norma Jocelyn Forbes

Walter Ewart Godsiff
Norma Jocelyn Forbes
💍 1925/4973

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Governess

24
24

Waitaria Bay
Springlands

one day
24 years

Church of England, Springlands

25/4832

2 June 1925

Archdeacon George William York, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	2 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ewart Godsiff	Norma Jocelyn Forbes
	💍 1925/4973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Governess
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Waitaria Bay	Springlands
Length of Residence	one day	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Springlands
Folio	25/4832
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon George William York, Church of England

6 June 1925

Ignatius Michael Murphy
Josephine Mary Ryan

Ignatius Michael Murphy
Josephine Mary Ryan
💍 1925/4974

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

37
25

Spring Creek
Seddon

37 years
25 years

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim

25/4833

6 June 1925

Dean John Richard Holley, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	6 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ignatius Michael Murphy	Josephine Mary Ryan
	💍 1925/4974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Seddon
Length of Residence	37 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	25/4833
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Dean John Richard Holley, Roman Catholic

8 June 1925

Thomas William Gleeson
Sarah Paynter

Thomas William Gleeson
Sarah Paynter
💍 1925/4975

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
21

Renwicktown
Fairhall

30 years
20 years

House of John William Paynter, Fairhall

25/4834

8 June 1925

Rev. George Arthur Crossman, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	8 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Gleeson	Sarah Paynter
	💍 1925/4975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Fairhall
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of John William Paynter, Fairhall
Folio	25/4834
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Arthur Crossman, 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).