Intentions to Marry, 1916 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840465, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1916c contains pages 931-1380, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 943

District of Eltham Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar F. Barnard

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

1 July 1916

Ernest Edwards
Winifred Hodgson

Ernest Edwards
Winifred Hodgson
💍 1916/1486

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic

35
30

Silverhope
Eltham

2 years
2 weeks

Church of England Eltham

6355

1 July 1916

Geo. W. Dent, Anglican minister

No	10
Date of Notice	1 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edwards	Winifred Hodgson
	💍 1916/1486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Silverhope	Eltham
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Eltham
Folio	6355
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Geo. W. Dent, Anglican minister

10 July 1916

Thomas McGuire
Mary Janet Large

Thomas McGuire
Mary Janet Large
💍 1916/7909

Bachelor
Widow

Roadman
Domestic

53
57

Omoana
Eltham

1 1/2 years
10 months

Office of Registrar of marriages Eltham

5567

10 July 1916

D. J. Graham, Deputy Registrar of marriages

No	11
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McGuire	Mary Janet Large
	💍 1916/7909
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Roadman	Domestic
Age	53	57
Dwelling Place	Omoana	Eltham
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages Eltham
Folio	5567
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	D. J. Graham, Deputy Registrar of marriages

15 July 1916

William Henry Slater
Sarah Olive Bootten

William Henry Slater
Sarah Olive Bootten
💍 1916/14327

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
20

Mata
Rawhitiroa

19 years
20 years

Methodist Church Eltham

5565

John Bootten, Father

15 July 1916

Archer O. Harris, methodist minister

No	12
Date of Notice	15 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Slater	Sarah Olive Bootten
	💍 1916/14327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Mata	Rawhitiroa
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Eltham
Folio	5565
Consent	John Bootten, Father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Archer O. Harris, methodist minister

20 July 1916

Herbert John Webster
Margaret Miller Libeau

Herbert John Mehrtens
Margaret Miller Libeau
💍 1916/14328

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
25

Ngaere
Eltham

3 days
10 years

Salvation Army Barracks Eltham

5566

20 July 1916

Henry Tatton, Salvation Army Officer

No	13
Date of Notice	20 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Webster	Margaret Miller Libeau
BDM Match (88%)	Herbert John Mehrtens	Margaret Miller Libeau
	💍 1916/14328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks Eltham
Folio	5566
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Henry Tatton, Salvation Army Officer

24 July 1916

William Stanley Brown
Katherine Brown

William Stanley Brown
Katherine Brown
💍 1916/7907

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

27
28

Matapu
Matapu

7 days
7 days

St Joseph Roman Catholic Church Eltham

5564

24 July 1916

T. J. Cahill, Roman Catholic Clergyman

No	14
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley Brown	Katherine Brown
	💍 1916/7907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Matapu	Matapu
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St Joseph Roman Catholic Church Eltham
Folio	5564
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	T. J. Cahill, Roman Catholic Clergyman

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).