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 1132

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

104

22 August 1916

Daniel Barry
Elizabeth Kearns

Daniel Barry
Elizabeth Kearns
💍 1916/7989

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

31
33

Napier
Tomoana

31 years
33 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

5673

22 August 1916

Rev. Father McDonnell, Roman Catholic

No	104
Date of Notice	22 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Barry	Elizabeth Kearns
	💍 1916/7989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Tomoana
Length of Residence	31 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	5673
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonnell, Roman Catholic

105

23 August 1916

Walter Nicholls
Ruth Webb

Walter Nicholls
Ruth Webb
💍 1916/8034

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (late Engineer)
Domestic Duties

22
22

Petane
Napier

22 years
8 months

Presbyterian St. Paul's Church, Napier, Port Ahuriri

5702

23 August 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

No	105
Date of Notice	23 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Nicholls	Ruth Webb
	💍 1916/8034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late Engineer)	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Petane	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian St. Paul's Church, Napier, Port Ahuriri
Folio	5702
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

106

25 August 1916

Walter Herbert Shearer
Clara Elsie Williamson

Walter Herbert Shearer
Clara Elsie Williamson
💍 1916/8015

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Saleswoman

22
27

Napier
Napier

3 years
27 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5700

25 August 1916

Rev. S. T. Rice, Church of England

No	106
Date of Notice	25 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Herbert Shearer	Clara Elsie Williamson
	💍 1916/8015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Saleswoman
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5700
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. T. Rice, Church of England

107

29 August 1916

John Douglas Coleman
Dorothy May Taylor

John Douglas Coleman
Dorothy May Taylor
💍 1916/8023

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
20

Napier
Napier

3 days
20 years

Congregational Church, Napier

5701

James Taylor, Father

29 August 1916

Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

No	107
Date of Notice	29 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas Coleman	Dorothy May Taylor
	💍 1916/8023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Napier
Folio	5701
Consent	James Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	29 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

108

30 August 1916

Laurence Dooney
Florrie Collins

Laurence Dooney
Florrie Collins
💍 1916/1376

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

21
20

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

6292

Harry Collins, Father

30 August 1916

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	108
Date of Notice	30 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Dooney	Florrie Collins
	💍 1916/1376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	6292
Consent	Harry Collins, Father
Date of Certificate	30 August 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).