Intentions to Marry, 1916 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840467, 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.

1916e contains pages 1803-2396, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1819

District of Picton Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar R. J. France

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

6 January 1916

John George Wemyss Dalrymple
Amelia Ann Cook

John George Wemyss Dalrymple
Amelia Ann Cook
💍 1916/3860

Widower
Spinster

Public Accountant
Domestic

56 years
full age

Picton
Picton

10 Days
10 days

Registrar's Office, Picton

16/1060

6 January 1916

James John France, Registrar Picton

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Wemyss Dalrymple	Amelia Ann Cook
	💍 1916/3860
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant	Domestic
Age	56 years	full age
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	10 Days	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Picton
Folio	16/1060
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1916
Officiating Minister	James John France, Registrar Picton

12 January 1916

Alfred John Godwin
Catherine Lucy Bragg

Alfred John Godwin
Catherine Lucy Bragg
💍 1916/3863

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

25 years
34 years

Koromiko Picton
Koromiko Picton

3 Days
2 Months

Church of England, Koromiko

16/1063

12 January 1916

Rev H Freberg, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Godwin	Catherine Lucy Bragg
	💍 1916/3863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	25 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Koromiko Picton	Koromiko Picton
Length of Residence	3 Days	2 Months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Koromiko
Folio	16/1063
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev H Freberg, Church of England

23 February 1916

James Paton
Cecily Watson

James Paton
Cicily Watson
💍 1916/3882

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30 years
30 years

Kekerangu
Kekerangu

3 Days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Picton

16/1058

23 January 1916

Rev A A Armstrong, Presbyterian Church Picton

No	3
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Paton	Cecily Watson
BDM Match (96%)	James Paton	Cicily Watson
	💍 1916/3882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Kekerangu	Kekerangu
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Picton
Folio	16/1058
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A A Armstrong, Presbyterian Church Picton

24 February 1916

Robert O'Sullivan
Violet Jessie Norgrove

Robert O'Sullivan
Violet Jessie Norgrove
💍 1916/9895

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
Music Teacher

26 years
30 years

Picton
Picton

3 weeks
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Picton

16/1559

24 February 1916

James John France, Registrar Picton

No	4
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert O'Sullivan	Violet Jessie Norgrove
	💍 1916/9895
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	Music Teacher
Age	26 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Picton
Folio	16/1559
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	James John France, Registrar Picton

4 May 1916

Arthur Ernest Pinkham
Annie Jane Dalziel

Arthur Ernest Pinkham
Annie Jane Dalziel
💍 1916/6574

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's assistant
Domestic

24 years
21 years

Picton
Grove Picton

18 years
9 years

Residence of bride's parents, Grove, Picton

cancelled

4 May 1916

Rev J R B Woolloxall, Wesleyan Picton

No	5
Date of Notice	4 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Pinkham	Annie Jane Dalziel
	💍 1916/6574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's assistant	Domestic
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Picton	Grove Picton
Length of Residence	18 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of bride's parents, Grove, Picton
Folio	cancelled
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J R B Woolloxall, Wesleyan Picton

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).