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 1837

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar C. O. Trownson

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

50/16

1 July 1916

John Alexander Adams
Edith Martha Anna Hadfield

John Alexander Adams
Edith Martha Anna Hadfield
💍 1916/1300

Widower
Spinster

Cheese-maker
Domestic

32
32

Blenheim
Blenheim

14 days
30 years

Wesley Church, Blenheim

16/6214

1 July 1916

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	50/16
Date of Notice	1 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Adams	Edith Martha Anna Hadfield
	💍 1916/1300
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Cheese-maker	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	14 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6214
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

51/16

3 July 1916

Isaac Wildash
Mabel Blythe
formerly Sowman

Isaac Wildash
Mabel Blythe
💍 1916/1299

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer
Domestic

36
33

Blenheim
Blenheim

13 years
32 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

16/6213

3 July 1916

Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

No	51/16
Date of Notice	3 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Wildash	Mabel Blythe formerly Sowman
	💍 1916/1299
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	13 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	16/6213
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

52/16

14 July 1916

Edward Wilkins
Rosalina Mary McLaughlan

Edward Wilkins
Rosalina Mary McLaughlan
💍 1916/1303

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

30
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 years
3 years

Residence of Mr G. Wilkins, Riversdale

16/6217

14 July 1916

Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

No	52/16
Date of Notice	14 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Wilkins	Rosalina Mary McLaughlan
	💍 1916/1303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. Wilkins, Riversdale
Folio	16/6217
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

53/16

18 July 1916

Montague Charles Canty Irons
Elsie Mary Mudford

Montague Charles Casty Irons
Elsie May Mudford
💍 1916/8441

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
23

Blenheim
Spring Creek

3 days
4 years

Wesley Church, Blenheim

16/6215

18 July 1916

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	53/16
Date of Notice	18 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague Charles Canty Irons	Elsie Mary Mudford
BDM Match (95%)	Montague Charles Casty Irons	Elsie May Mudford
	💍 1916/8441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6215
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

54/16

20 July 1916

Stanley Truby Blacklaws
Nelly Adams

Stanley Truby Blacklaws
Nelly Adams
💍 1916/1302

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter New Zealand Railways
Waitress

24
26

Ward
Ward

5 years
26 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

16/6216

20 July 1916

Mr. C. O. Trownson, Registrar

No	54/16
Date of Notice	20 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Truby Blacklaws	Nelly Adams
	💍 1916/1302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter New Zealand Railways	Waitress
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Ward	Ward
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	16/6216
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. O. Trownson, 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).