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 1119

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar W. Buchanan

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 April 1916

James Macfarlane
Isabel Louise Scully

James Macfarlane
Isabel Louise Scully
💍 1916/591

Widower 8th June 1914
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Civil Servant

62
44

Napier
Clive

14 years
5 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

3785

4 April 1916

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	4 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Macfarlane	Isabel Louise Scully
	💍 1916/591
Condition	Widower 8th June 1914	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Civil Servant
Age	62	44
Dwelling Place	Napier	Clive
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3785
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

3 April 1916

George Howard Brown
Jean Macrae

George Howard Brown
Jean Macrae
💍 1916/569

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
29

Napier
Napier

3 1/2 years
29 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

3779

3 April 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	3 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Howard Brown	Jean Macrae
	💍 1916/569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	3779
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

7 April 1916

Phillip Godfrey Tritt
Irene Goold Spackman

Phillip Godfrey Tritt
Irene Goold Spackman
💍 1916/13286

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Shop Assistant

23
22

Napier
Napier

2 years
11 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

4478

7 April 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	7 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip Godfrey Tritt	Irene Goold Spackman
	💍 1916/13286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Shop Assistant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	4478
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

7 April 1916

Alexander McLean
Margaret Paterson Paxton

Alexander McLean
Margaret Paterson Paxton
💍 1916/590

Alexander McLean
Nora Ellen Larsen
💍 1916/1048

Widower 24th March 1914
Spinster

Agricultural Manager
Matron

55
50

Napier
Napier

10 days
10 days

Residence of Rev. C. Connor, Napier

3784

7 April 1916

Rev. Chas. Connor, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	7 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McLean	Margaret Paterson Paxton
	💍 1916/590
BDM Match (67%)	Alexander McLean	Nora Ellen Larsen
	💍 1916/1048
Condition	Widower 24th March 1914	Spinster
Profession	Agricultural Manager	Matron
Age	55	50
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. Connor, Napier
Folio	3784
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Connor, Presbyterian

8 April 1916

John George Alexander Golds
Eliza Marriott

John George Alexander Golds
Eliza Marriott
💍 1916/589

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Preserver
Domestic

35
21

Tomoana
Napier

35 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

3783

8 April 1916

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Alexander Golds	Eliza Marriott
	💍 1916/589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Preserver	Domestic
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Tomoana	Napier
Length of Residence	35 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	3783
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, 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).

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).