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 1137

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

120

4 October 1916

Arthur George Murdoch
Ivy Logan

Arthur George Murdoch
Ivy Logan
💍 1916/2653

Divorced 5th April 1905
Spinster

Architect
Domestic Duties

47
18

Napier
Napier

5 years
17 years

Residence of Rev. J. R. Richards, Cameron Road, Napier

7584

Caroline Willet Logan, Mother

4 October 1916

Rev. J. R. Richards (Wesleyan) Methodist

No	120
Date of Notice	4 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Murdoch	Ivy Logan
	💍 1916/2653
Condition	Divorced 5th April 1905	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Domestic Duties
Age	47	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. R. Richards, Cameron Road, Napier
Folio	7584
Consent	Caroline Willet Logan, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards (Wesleyan) Methodist

121

4 October 1916

William Charles Scott
Hilda May Herdman

William Charles Scott
Hilda May Herdman
💍 1916/76

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Lady help

25
21

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 weeks

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

8182

4 October 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	121
Date of Notice	4 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Scott	Hilda May Herdman
	💍 1916/76
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Lady help
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	8182
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

122

11 October 1916

Ernest Worrall Coldicutt
Isabella Hare

Ernest Worrall Coldicutt
Isabella Hare
💍 1916/1027

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

25
24

Napier
Napier

3 years
24 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

16/7565

11 October 1916

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	122
Date of Notice	11 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Worrall Coldicutt	Isabella Hare
	💍 1916/1027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	16/7565
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

123

11 October 1916

George Henry Hunt
Mabel Jane Denholm

George Henry Hunt
Mabel Jane Denholm
💍 1916/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Nurse

40
40

Waipawa
Napier

10 years
3 days

St. Paul's Church, Napier

7581

11 October 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	123
Date of Notice	11 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hunt	Mabel Jane Denholm
	💍 1916/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Nurse
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	7581
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

124

16 October 1916

George Henry Halliwell
Mary Helen Garrett

George Henry Halliwell
Mary Helen Garrett
💍 1916/3036

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
22

Rissington
Napier

27 years
22 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

8199

16 October 1916

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	124
Date of Notice	16 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Halliwell	Mary Helen Garrett
	💍 1916/3036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Rissington	Napier
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	8199
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, 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).

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).