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 1130

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

2 August 1916

Harry Parsons
Evelyn Miro Monteith

Harry Parsons
Evelyn Miro Monteith
💍 1916/14447

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
23

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

St. Pauls Church Napier

5712

2 August 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	94
Date of Notice	2 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Parsons	Evelyn Miro Monteith
	💍 1916/14447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church Napier
Folio	5712
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

2 August 1916

John William Martin
Ethel May Double

John William Martin
Ethel May Double
💍 1916/8025

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

28
21

Port Ahuriri
Napier

5 years
12 years

Residence of Rev. Thos. Tait Napier

5711

2 August 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

No	95
Date of Notice	2 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Martin	Ethel May Double
	💍 1916/8025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. Thos. Tait Napier
Folio	5711
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

3 August 1916

Thomas Whittle
Elsie Winifred Bicknell

Thomas Whittle
Elsie Winifred Bicknell
💍 1916/1474

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

29
23

Puketitiri
Puketapu

20 years
23 years

Anglican Church Puketapu

6366

3 August 1916

Rev. M. W. Butterfield Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	3 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Whittle	Elsie Winifred Bicknell
	💍 1916/1474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Puketitiri	Puketapu
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Puketapu
Folio	6366
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. W. Butterfield Church of England

10 August 1916

Thomas Wilson
Annabella McLeod Orr

Thomas Wilson
Annabella McLeod Orr
💍 1916/8047

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary
Student

26
20

Clive
Clive

8 months
20 years

Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri

5709

Marguerite Dalziel Orr Mother

10 August 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	10 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson	Annabella McLeod Orr
	💍 1916/8047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary	Student
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	5709
Consent	Marguerite Dalziel Orr Mother
Date of Certificate	10 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

12 August 1916

Thomas Frederick Cooper
Eleanor Mary Trigg

Thomas Frederick Cooper
Eleanor Mary Trigg
💍 1916/8043

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (late Engineer)
Dressmaker

28
31

Napier
Napier

6 months
1 month

Registrar's Office Napier

5705

12 August 1916

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	98
Date of Notice	12 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frederick Cooper	Eleanor Mary Trigg
	💍 1916/8043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late Engineer)	Dressmaker
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5705
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 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).