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 2450

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 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

40/26

27 May 1926

John Russell
Edna Dorothy Stevenson

John Russell
Edna Dorothy Stevenson
💍 1926/6266

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Porter
Tailoress

22
18

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 years
10 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

5710

Ellen Julia Roberts, mother (formerly Stevenson)

27 May 1926

Rev. A. J. Barr, Church of England

No	40/26
Date of Notice	27 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Russell	Edna Dorothy Stevenson
	💍 1926/6266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Porter	Tailoress
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	5710
Consent	Ellen Julia Roberts, mother (formerly Stevenson)
Date of Certificate	27 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Barr, Church of England

41/26

7 June 1926

John Samuel Devescovi
Violet Lilian Larcombe

John Samuel Devescovi
Violet Lilian Larcombe
💍 1926/6267

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman
School teacher

27
25

Dunollie
Greymouth

27 years
25 years

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

5711

7 June 1926

Rev. J. McMonagle, Roman Catholic

No	41/26
Date of Notice	7 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Devescovi	Violet Lilian Larcombe
	💍 1926/6267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman	School teacher
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Dunollie	Greymouth
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	5711
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McMonagle, Roman Catholic

42/26

7 June 1926

Joseph McGurk
Constance Maude Dunlop

Joseph McGurk
Constance Maude Dunlop
💍 1926/6268

Bachelor
Widow

Waterside worker
Domestic

45
55

Greymouth
Cobden

25 years
18 years

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

5712

12 July 1925

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	42/26
Date of Notice	7 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McGurk	Constance Maude Dunlop
	💍 1926/6268
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Waterside worker	Domestic
Age	45	55
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	5712
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

43/26

18 June 1926

Victor William Peter Johnson
Dorothy Alice Hibbs

Victor William Peter Johnson
Dorothy Alice Hibbs
💍 1926/6269

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

18
20

Greymouth
Camerons

18 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Greymouth

5713

Lilian Thyra Bevan (formerly Johnson), mother; Arthur Edwin Hibbs, father

18 June 1926

Registrar of Marriages

No	43/26
Date of Notice	18 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor William Peter Johnson	Dorothy Alice Hibbs
	💍 1926/6269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Camerons
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Greymouth
Folio	5713
Consent	Lilian Thyra Bevan (formerly Johnson), mother; Arthur Edwin Hibbs, father
Date of Certificate	18 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

44/26

24 June 1926

James Gilbert Brown
Nellie Dorothea Fleming

James Gilbert Brown
Nellie Dorothea Fleming
💍 1926/6270

Bachelor
Spinster

Constable
Drapers assistant

30
26

Greymouth
Kanieri

2 1/2 years
26 years

St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Hokitika

5714

24 June 1926

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	44/26
Date of Notice	24 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gilbert Brown	Nellie Dorothea Fleming
	💍 1926/6270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Constable	Drapers assistant
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Kanieri
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	5714
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

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).