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 1112

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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

31 January 1916

Donald Haultain
Constance Mary Clarke

Donald Haultain
Constance Mary Clarke
💍 1916/3474

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Domestic Duties

24
28

Taradale
Taradale

3 days
23 years

All Saints Church Taradale

519

31 January 1916

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Haultain	Constance Mary Clarke
	💍 1916/3474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Domestic Duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Taradale
Folio	519
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

01 February 1916

Alfred Edward McLeod
Florrie Ewbank

Alfred Edward McLeod
Marie Ewbank
💍 1916/9481

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Waitress

26
27

Napier
Napier

3 years
27 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

516

01 February 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	01 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward McLeod	Florrie Ewbank
BDM Match (86%)	Alfred Edward McLeod	Marie Ewbank
	💍 1916/9481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Waitress
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	516
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

03 February 1916

Francis Joseph Palmer
Vida Nellie Munro

Francis Joseph Palmer
Vida Nellie Munro
💍 1916/3472

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Household Duties

41
32

Napier
Napier

3 days
25 years

Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri

517

03 February 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	03 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Palmer	Vida Nellie Munro
	💍 1916/3472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Household Duties
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	517
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

04 February 1916

James McCormick
Isabella Agnes Roil

James McCormick
Isabella Agnes Roil
💍 1916/3473

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Telephonist

28
27

Napier
Patoka

4 days
14 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

518

04 February 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	04 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCormick	Isabella Agnes Roil
	💍 1916/3473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Telephonist
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Patoka
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	518
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

08 February 1916

Thomas Smith Radford
Annie Leah McKenzie

Thomas Smith Radford
Annie Leah McKenzie
💍 1916/8734

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

23
19

Clive
Clive

2 days
2 years

Anglican Church Clive

452

John Anderson McKenzie Father

08 February 1916

Rev. J. A. Lush, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	08 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith Radford	Annie Leah McKenzie
	💍 1916/8734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	2 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Clive
Folio	452
Consent	John Anderson McKenzie Father
Date of Certificate	08 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).