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 2467

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar H. G. Coles

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

James Joseph Lincoln
Lucy Ellen Marie Martini

James Joseph Lincoln
Lucy Ellen Mavis Martini
💍 1926/1274

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Nurse
Nurse

25
26

Hokitika
Stafford

25 years
26 years

St Michaels church, Waimea, Goldsborough

2547

4 January 1926

Rev. Father Finerty, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Lincoln	Lucy Ellen Marie Martini
BDM Match (96%)	James Joseph Lincoln	Lucy Ellen Mavis Martini
	💍 1926/1274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Nurse	Nurse
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Stafford
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Michaels church, Waimea, Goldsborough
Folio	2547
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Finerty, Roman Catholic

6 January 1926

Bernard Arthur Hausmann
Pearl Elizabeth Fleming

Bernard Arthur Haussmann
Pearl Elizabeth Fleming
💍 1926/1285

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmillhand
Domestic

23
22

Hokitika
Kokatahi

10 months
22 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

2548

6 January 1926

Rev. J. Perkins, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Arthur Hausmann	Pearl Elizabeth Fleming
BDM Match (98%)	Bernard Arthur Haussmann	Pearl Elizabeth Fleming
	💍 1926/1285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmillhand	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Kokatahi
Length of Residence	10 months	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	2548
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Perkins, Anglican

5 February 1926

Roy Paterson
Lydia Ada Zane

Roy Paterson
Lydia Ada Fane
💍 1926/1292

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Clerk

29
26

Hokitika
Hokitika

4 years
20 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

2549

5 February 1926

Rev. John Perkins, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	5 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Paterson	Lydia Ada Zane
BDM Match (96%)	Roy Paterson	Lydia Ada Fane
	💍 1926/1292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Clerk
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	2549
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Perkins, Anglican

5 February 1926

George Searle
Florence Elizabeth Meta Phillips

George Searle
Florence Elizabeth Meta Phillips
💍 1926/1293

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

28
19

Hokitika
Ruatapu

4 days
10 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

2550

Alfred James Phillips, father

5 February 1926

J. D. Burns, Deputy Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	5 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Searle	Florence Elizabeth Meta Phillips
	💍 1926/1293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Ruatapu
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	2550
Consent	Alfred James Phillips, father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1926
Officiating Minister	J. D. Burns, Deputy Registrar

6 February 1926

Lawrence Lovell
Marcia Adeline Mary McMinn

Lawrence Lovell
Marcia Adeline Mary McMinn
💍 1926/1294

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitters Labourer
Domestic

28
20

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

2551

Eda Sarah Levich, mother

6 February 1926

Rev. John Perkins, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	6 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Lovell	Marcia Adeline Mary McMinn
	💍 1926/1294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitters Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	2551
Consent	Eda Sarah Levich, mother
Date of Certificate	6 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Perkins, Anglican

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).