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 1851

District of Ahaura Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar E. C. Richards

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

20 October 1916

Humphreys Smith
Myrtle Corsau

Humphrey Smith
Myrtle Corsan
💍 1916/2766

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

22
17

Blackball
Blackball

13 years
3 1/2 months

Office of Registrar of marriages, Ahaura

7847

Margaret Corsau, mother

20 October 1916

E. C. Richards, Registrar, Ahaura

No	17
Date of Notice	20 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphreys Smith	Myrtle Corsau
BDM Match (93%)	Humphrey Smith	Myrtle Corsan
	💍 1916/2766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	13 years	3 1/2 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages, Ahaura
Folio	7847
Consent	Margaret Corsau, mother
Date of Certificate	20 October 1916
Officiating Minister	E. C. Richards, Registrar, Ahaura

21 October 1916

George Brady
Ivy Florence Aldridge

George Brady
Ivy Florence Aldridge
💍 1916/2992

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

24
20

Blackball
Blackball

2 years
1 year

In the Roman Catholic Church at Blackball

7673

George Aldridge, Father

21 October 1916

Rev. Father Hanrahan, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

No	18
Date of Notice	21 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brady	Ivy Florence Aldridge
	💍 1916/2992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church at Blackball
Folio	7673
Consent	George Aldridge, Father
Date of Certificate	21 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hanrahan, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

3 November 1916

John Curtin
Catherine Doolan

John Curtin
Catherine Doolan
💍 1916/2991

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

49
43

Ahaura
Totara Flat

11 months
43 years

In the Roman Catholic Church at Totara Flat

7872

3 November 1916

Rev. Father Hanrahan, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

No	19
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Curtin	Catherine Doolan
	💍 1916/2991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	49	43
Dwelling Place	Ahaura	Totara Flat
Length of Residence	11 months	43 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church at Totara Flat
Folio	7872
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hanrahan, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

23 November 1916

George Newman Peck
Grace Elizabeth Mettrick

George Sleeman Peck
Grace Elizabeth Mettrick
💍 1916/2934

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

32
24

Blackball
Blackball

3 days
2 years

In the Church of England at Blackball

8128

23 November 1916

Rev. J. W. Bloyce, Anglican Clergyman, Blackball

No	20
Date of Notice	23 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Newman Peck	Grace Elizabeth Mettrick
BDM Match (92%)	George Sleeman Peck	Grace Elizabeth Mettrick
	💍 1916/2934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England at Blackball
Folio	8128
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Bloyce, Anglican Clergyman, Blackball

4 December 1916

John George Hill
Annie Todd

John George Hill
Annie Todd
💍 1916/2205

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic

25
22

Kotuku
Dobson

4 months
22 years

In the Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

7902

4 December 1916

Rev. Archdeacon Yorke, Anglican Clergyman, Greymouth

No	21
Date of Notice	4 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Hill	Annie Todd
	💍 1916/2205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Kotuku	Dobson
Length of Residence	4 months	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	7902
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Yorke, Anglican Clergyman, Greymouth

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).