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 2532

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar W. 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

22 October 1926

John Henry Ibell
Rose Ellen Tait

John Henry Ibell
Rose Ellen Tait
💍 1926/9109

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
domestic duties

29
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
53 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10385

22 October 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	22 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Ibell	Rose Ellen Tait
	💍 1926/9109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	53 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10385
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

6 November 1926

Francis George Tait
Eva May Fletcher

Francis George Tait
Eva May Fletcher
💍 1926/9088

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
domestic duties

30
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
9 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

10386

George Tait, father of minor

6 November 1926

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	6 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Tait	Eva May Fletcher
	💍 1926/9088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	10386
Consent	George Tait, father of minor
Date of Certificate	6 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

19 November 1926

Norman Stanley Hume
Selina May Davison

Norman Stanley Hume
Selina May Davison
💍 1926/9090

Bachelor
Widow

Farm labourer
domestic duties

34
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
16 September 1925

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10388

19 November 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	19 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stanley Hume	Selina May Davison
	💍 1926/9090
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	16 September 1925
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10388
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

24 November 1926

Janetus Keith
Alice Harriet Tait

Javetus Keith
Alice Harriet Tau
💍 1926/9089

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

33
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

15 months
7 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10387

24 November 1926

W. W. White, Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	24 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Janetus Keith	Alice Harriet Tait
BDM Match (91%)	Javetus Keith	Alice Harriet Tau
	💍 1926/9089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10387
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1926
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

24 November 1926

Norman Stanley Hume
Selina May Davison

Norman Stanley Hume
Selina May Davison
💍 1926/9090

Bachelor
Widow

Farm labourer
domestic duties

34
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
16 September 1925

at the dwelling of Agnes Marion Hume, Seafield Road, Ashburton

10388

24 November 1926

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	24 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stanley Hume	Selina May Davison
	💍 1926/9090
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	16 September 1925
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Agnes Marion Hume, Seafield Road, Ashburton
Folio	10388
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, 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).