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 1127

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

3 July 1916

Samuel Harris
Esma Kent

Samuel Harris
Esma Kent
💍 1916/8028

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

48
42

Korokipo
Korokipo

6 years
10 months

All Saints Church, Taradale

5714

3 July 1916

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	79
Date of Notice	3 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Harris	Esma Kent
	💍 1916/8028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Korokipo	Korokipo
Length of Residence	6 years	10 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Taradale
Folio	5714
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

4 July 1916

Henry Williams
Bridget Ann McCarthy

Henry Williams
Bridget Ann McCarthy
💍 1916/1378

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

26
26

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

10 years
26 years

St. Mary's Church, Port Ahuriri

6294

4 July 1916

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Williams	Bridget Ann McCarthy
	💍 1916/1378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	6294
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

4 July 1916

Frederick John Dobson
Annie Louisa Jarrett

Frederick John Dobson
Annie Louisa Jarrett
💍 1916/8007

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

25
21

Napier
Napier

2 days
6 days

Trinity Methodist Church, Napier

5692

4 July 1916

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	81
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Dobson	Annie Louisa Jarrett
	💍 1916/8007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	5692
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

7 July 1916

Robert Arthur Elliott
Elizabeth Watkin

Robert Arthur Elliott
Elizabeth Watkin
💍 1916/8024

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

25
29

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 months

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5710

7 July 1916

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	7 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Arthur Elliott	Elizabeth Watkin
	💍 1916/8024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5710
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

10 July 1916

Charles Edward Mountfort
Dorothy Lena Noble Campbell

Charles Edward Mountfort
Dorothy Lena Noble-Campbell
💍 1916/1413

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier late Surveyor
School Teacher

21
22

Napier
Napier

2 days
3 months

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

6331

10 July 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	83
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Mountfort	Dorothy Lena Noble Campbell
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edward Mountfort	Dorothy Lena Noble-Campbell
	💍 1916/1413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier late Surveyor	School Teacher
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	6331
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

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).