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 1139

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

130

25 October 1916

Francis Laurence Trask
Deborah Florence Jean Hughes

Francis Lawrence Track
Deborah Florence Jean Hughes
💍 1916/2651

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
16

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

31 years
14 years

The Manse Milton Road Napier

7582

Albert Richard Hughes Father

25 October 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

No	130
Date of Notice	25 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Laurence Trask	Deborah Florence Jean Hughes
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Lawrence Track	Deborah Florence Jean Hughes
	💍 1916/2651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	16
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	31 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The Manse Milton Road Napier
Folio	7582
Consent	Albert Richard Hughes Father
Date of Certificate	25 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

131

31 October 1916

Norman Macdonald Lethbridge
Dorothy Mildred Gilbertson

Norman Macdonald Lethbridge
Dorothy Mildred Gilbertson
💍 1916/3044

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

35
23

Napier
Waipukurau

4 days
23 years

St. John's Cathedral Napier

8184

31 October 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

No	131
Date of Notice	31 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Macdonald Lethbridge	Dorothy Mildred Gilbertson
	💍 1916/3044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	8184
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

132

1 November 1916

Patrick Windle
Caroline Beatrice Ireland

Patrick Windle
Caroline Beatrice Ireland
💍 1916/1019

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

23
21

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

Residence of Wm. Ireland Nelson Crescent Napier

7568

1 November 1916

Rev. J. R. Richards Methodist

No	132
Date of Notice	1 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Windle	Caroline Beatrice Ireland
	💍 1916/1019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm. Ireland Nelson Crescent Napier
Folio	7568
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards Methodist

133

3 November 1916

Stanley Roderique
Hannah Isabelle Jeffares

Stanley Roderique
Hannah Isabella Jeffares
💍 1916/3037

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone clerk
Waitress

24
20

Napier
Napier

2 years
20 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

8200

Robert Bowater Jeffares

3 November 1916

Rev. Father O'Sullivan Roman Catholic

No	133
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Roderique	Hannah Isabelle Jeffares
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Roderique	Hannah Isabella Jeffares
	💍 1916/3037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone clerk	Waitress
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	8200
Consent	Robert Bowater Jeffares
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan Roman Catholic

134

7 November 1916

Charles Horace Holder
Jessie Walker

Charles Horace Holder
Jessie Walker
💍 1916/2670

Edward Boraman
Jessie Walker
💍 1916/605

Divorced 12th Oct. 1916
Spinster

Soldier (late Carpenter)
Waitress

32
32

Napier
Napier

32 years
8 years

Registrar's Office Napier

7577

7 November 1916

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	134
Date of Notice	7 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Horace Holder	Jessie Walker
	💍 1916/2670
BDM Match (62%)	Edward Boraman	Jessie Walker
	💍 1916/605
Condition	Divorced 12th Oct. 1916	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late Carpenter)	Waitress
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	32 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	7577
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 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).