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 2525

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar T. O. W. White

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 June 1926

Jubilee Leicester Carter
Daphne Agnes Price

Jubilee Leicester Carter
Daphne Agnes Price
💍 1926/6022

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

35
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Lowcliffe

5265

4 June 1926

Rev. Samuel Preater, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	4 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jubilee Leicester Carter	Daphne Agnes Price
	💍 1926/6022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lowcliffe
Folio	5265
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Preater, Presbyterian

10 June 1926

Richard Tait
Holly Clara Chambers

Richard Tait
Holly Clara Chambers
💍 1926/6023

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
domestic duties

24
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

24 years
31 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

5266

10 June 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	10 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Tait	Holly Clara Chambers
	💍 1926/6023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	domestic duties
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	5266
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

14 June 1926

John Basil Meeking
Winifred Rooney

John Basil Meeking
Winifred Rooney
💍 1926/6024

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Shop Assistant

34
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
31 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

5267

14 June 1926

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	54
Date of Notice	14 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Basil Meeking	Winifred Rooney
	💍 1926/6024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	5267
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

22 June 1926

Frank Farey Simpson
Annie Caroline Margaret Stevenson

Frank Farey Simpson
Annie Caroline Margaret Stevenson
💍 1926/6025

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

21
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

21 years
23 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

5268

22 June 1926

Rev. W. Marshall, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	22 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Farey Simpson	Annie Caroline Margaret Stevenson
	💍 1926/6025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	21 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	5268
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Marshall, Presbyterian

30 June 1926

Andrew Dynes
Ethel Elizabeth Myrte Jamieson

Andrew Dynes
Ethel Elizabeth Myrtle Jamieson
💍 1926/6026

Bachelor
divorced 7 July 1922

Farmer
domestic duties

34
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
6 months

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

5269

30 June 1926

W. W. White, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	30 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Dynes	Ethel Elizabeth Myrte Jamieson
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Dynes	Ethel Elizabeth Myrtle Jamieson
	💍 1926/6026
Condition	Bachelor	divorced 7 July 1922
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	5269
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1926
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, 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).