Intentions to Marry, 1926 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840541, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926f contains pages 2223-2768, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2369

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar [illegible]

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

4 January 1926

Roy Vincent Niemann
Ruby Michell

Roy Vincent Niemann
Ruby Mickell
💍 1926/3303

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 17th July 1925

Telegraph lineman
Domestic

32
32

Nelson
Nelson

32 years
1 year

Presbyterian church, Nelson

2492

4 January 1926

Rev James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Vincent Niemann	Ruby Michell
BDM Match (96%)	Roy Vincent Niemann	Ruby Mickell
	💍 1926/3303
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 17th July 1925
Profession	Telegraph lineman	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	32 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church, Nelson
Folio	2492
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev James McNeill, Presbyterian

4 January 1926

Alexander Simpson
Mary Elizabeth Brewerton

Alex Alexander Simpson
Maud Elizabeth Brewerton
💍 1926/3304

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory hand
Domestic

44
28

Nelson
Nelson

44 years
5 years

Residence of Rev James McNeill, Nile Street, Nelson

2493

4 January 1926

Rev James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Simpson	Mary Elizabeth Brewerton
BDM Match (85%)	Alex Alexander Simpson	Maud Elizabeth Brewerton
	💍 1926/3304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory hand	Domestic
Age	44	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	44 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev James McNeill, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	2493
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev James McNeill, Presbyterian

8 January 1926

Edward Thomas Carter
Yeiter Amelia Pahl

Edward Thomas Carter
Zeiter Amelia Pahl
💍 1926/3305

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 months
20 years

Residence of Pahl, Kawai St, Nelson

2494

Charles Richard Edward Samuel Pahl (father)

8 January 1926

Rev H L Blamires, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	8 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Carter	Yeiter Amelia Pahl
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Thomas Carter	Zeiter Amelia Pahl
	💍 1926/3305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Pahl, Kawai St, Nelson
Folio	2494
Consent	Charles Richard Edward Samuel Pahl (father)
Date of Certificate	8 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev H L Blamires, Methodist

9 January 1926

Stanley Edward Oaks
Muriel James

Stanley Edward Oaks
Muriel James
💍 1926/3306

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

22
19

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
2 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2495

Sarah James (mother)

9 January 1926

Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Edward Oaks	Muriel James
	💍 1926/3306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2495
Consent	Sarah James (mother)
Date of Certificate	9 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

18 January 1926

Thomas Frederick Lange
Ida May Stephenson

Thomas Frederick Lange
Ida May Stephenson
💍 1926/3308

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Clerk

25
24

Christchurch
Nelson

18 years

All Saints Church of England, Nelson

2496

18 January 1926

Rev John R Dart, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	18 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frederick Lange	Ida May Stephenson
	💍 1926/3308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Nelson
Length of Residence		18 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Nelson
Folio	2496
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev John R Dart, 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).