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 1839

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar G. W. Thompson

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

60/16

21 August 1916

Henry Creeden Cheesman
Mary Ann Thomas
formerly Rush

Henry Creeden Cheesman
Ann Mary Thomas
💍 1916/1316

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

52
49

Grovetown
Grovetown

48 years
49 years

Mrs. Prichard's Residence, Walter St., Blenheim

16/6207

21 August 1916

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	60/16
Date of Notice	21 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Creeden Cheesman	Mary Ann Thomas formerly Rush
BDM Match (73%)	Henry Creeden Cheesman	Ann Mary Thomas
	💍 1916/1316
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	52	49
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	48 years	49 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Prichard's Residence, Walter St., Blenheim
Folio	16/6207
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

61/16

1 September 1916

Cecil Godfrey Flood
Margaret Mary Newport

Cecil Godfrey Flood
Margaret Mary Newport
💍 1916/1315

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
31

Blenheim
Blenheim

25 years
31 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

16/6206

1 September 1916

Rev. J. Herring, Roman Catholic

No	61/16
Date of Notice	1 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Godfrey Flood	Margaret Mary Newport
	💍 1916/1315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	25 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6206
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Herring, Roman Catholic

62/16

5 September 1916

George Howard West Broadbridge
Alice Mary Timms

George Howard Weir Broadbridge
Alice Mary Timms
💍 1916/1298

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic

27
26

Wairau Valley
Wairau Valley

21 years
26 years

Church of England, Blenheim

16/6204

5 September 1916

Rev. H. B. W. White, Church of England

No	62/16
Date of Notice	5 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Howard West Broadbridge	Alice Mary Timms
BDM Match (97%)	George Howard Weir Broadbridge	Alice Mary Timms
	💍 1916/1298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wairau Valley	Wairau Valley
Length of Residence	21 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	16/6204
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. W. White, Church of England

63/16

6 September 1916

Philip Harvey Woodgate
Ida May Weaver

Philip Harvey Woodgate
Ida May Weaver
💍 1916/1309

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

23
19

Renwicktown
Kaituna

3 days
19 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

16/6205

Alexander Weaver, Father

6 September 1916

Mr C. O.. Trownson, Registrar

No	63/16
Date of Notice	6 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Harvey Woodgate	Ida May Weaver
	💍 1916/1309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Kaituna
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	16/6205
Consent	Alexander Weaver, Father
Date of Certificate	6 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr C. O.. Trownson, Registrar

64/16

19 September 1916

John George Mosley
Sadie Annie Freeth

William George Mosley
Sadie Annie Freeth
💍 1916/1339

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Tailor
Domestic

29
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

5 years
23 years

Wesley Church, Blenheim

16/6203

19 September 1916

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	64/16
Date of Notice	19 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Mosley	Sadie Annie Freeth
BDM Match (83%)	William George Mosley	Sadie Annie Freeth
	💍 1916/1339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Tailor	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6203
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

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).