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 1114

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

24 February 1916

Edward Hill Limbrick
Hilda Bertha Peters

Edward Hill Limbrick
Hilda Bertha Peters
💍 1916/3609

Widower (12 Feb. 1913)
Divorced (3 Dec. 1915)

Taxi Driver
Dressmaker

42
39

Napier
Napier

22 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

531

24 February 1916

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Hill Limbrick	Hilda Bertha Peters
	💍 1916/3609
Condition	Widower (12 Feb. 1913)	Divorced (3 Dec. 1915)
Profession	Taxi Driver	Dressmaker
Age	42	39
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	531
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

24 February 1916

John Archibald
Julia Winifred McCarthy

John Archibald
Julia Winifred McCarthy
💍 1916/8727

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

29
31

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

St. Patricks Church, Napier

463

26 February 1916

Rev. Father Vignan, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald	Julia Winifred McCarthy
	💍 1916/8727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church, Napier
Folio	463
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Vignan, Roman Catholic

29 February 1916

Arthur Bullock
Lucy Mary Simson

Arthur Bullock
Lucy Mary Simson
💍 1916/3607

Widower (3 Nov. 1914)
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic Duties

40
33

Clive
Clive

4 days
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Clive

529

29 February 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	29 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bullock	Lucy Mary Simson
	💍 1916/3607
Condition	Widower (3 Nov. 1914)	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic Duties
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Clive
Folio	529
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

2 March 1916

James Samuel Tonkin
Daisy Mary Button

James Samuel Tonkin
Daisy Mary Button
💍 1916/3608

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic Duties

35
24

Westshore
Westshore

12 years
24 years

St. Augustines Church, Napier

530

2 March 1916

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	2 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Samuel Tonkin	Daisy Mary Button
	💍 1916/3608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic Duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Westshore
Length of Residence	12 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	530
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

3 March 1916

Julius Brink
Karen Mikkelsen

Julius Brink
Karen Mikklesen
💍 1916/8732

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

26
30

Taradale
Taradale

7 days
7 days

Presbyterian Church, Taradale

468

3 March 1916

Rev. R. F. Fish, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	3 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Brink	Karen Mikkelsen
BDM Match (93%)	Julius Brink	Karen Mikklesen
	💍 1916/8732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taradale
Folio	468
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Fish, Presbyterian

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).