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 2519

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar Norwood

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

18 January 1926

David Gordon Sturrock Smith
Mary Annie McKee

David Gordon Sturrock Smith
Mary Annie McKee
💍 1926/3547

Bachelor
Spinster

Fibrous Plasterer
domestic duties

28
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 days
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church Ashburton Chertsey

2936

18 January 1926

Rev. A. S. Morrison M.A. Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	18 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gordon Sturrock Smith	Mary Annie McKee
	💍 1926/3547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fibrous Plasterer	domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton Chertsey
Folio	2936
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Morrison M.A. Presbyterian

29 January 1926

Alexander Harvey
Bessie Conway

Alexander Harvey
Bessie Conway
💍 1926/1283

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Midwife

42
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

42 years
30 years

dwelling of Leonard Francis Bennett Kuapuna

2564

29 January 1926

Rev. A. B. Kirkland Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	29 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Harvey	Bessie Conway
	💍 1926/1283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Midwife
Age	42	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	42 years	30 years
Marriage Place	dwelling of Leonard Francis Bennett Kuapuna
Folio	2564
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Kirkland Presbyterian

4 February 1926

Frank Reynolds Baden
Catherine Nellie Duff

Frank Reynolds Eaden
Catherine Nellie Duff
💍 1926/1284

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

24
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

16 years
3 years

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

2565

4 February 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Reynolds Baden	Catherine Nellie Duff
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Reynolds Eaden	Catherine Nellie Duff
	💍 1926/1284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	2565
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman Church of England

8 February 1926

William Gayton Keele
Myra Evelyn Margaret Williamson

William Gayton Keele
Myra Evelyn Margaret Williamson
💍 1926/1286

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

36
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
4 years

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

2566

8 February 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gayton Keele	Myra Evelyn Margaret Williamson
	💍 1926/1286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	2566
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman Church of England

3 March 1926

John Gordon Jackson
Georgina Pearl Hayward

John Gordon Jackson
Georgina Pearl Hayward
💍 1926/1287

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

21
18

Ashburton
Ashburton

51 years
8 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

2567

John Herbert Hayward father of minor

3 March 1926

Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A. Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	3 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Jackson	Georgina Pearl Hayward
	💍 1926/1287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	51 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	2567
Consent	John Herbert Hayward father of minor
Date of Certificate	3 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A. Presbyterian

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).