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 1849

District of Ahaura Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar G. C. Richard

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

4 July 1916

Robert John Rowse
Caroline Violet Green

Robert John Rowse
Caroline Violet Green
💍 1916/1337

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

20
21

Kotuku
Kotuku

9 years
5 months

In the private house of Mr. W. H. Rowse at Kotuku

6201

Mr. W. H. Rowse, father of R. J. Rowse

4 July 1916

Rev. G. W. Crossman, Anglican Minister, Brunnerton

No	12
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Rowse	Caroline Violet Green
	💍 1916/1337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Kotuku	Kotuku
Length of Residence	9 years	5 months
Marriage Place	In the private house of Mr. W. H. Rowse at Kotuku
Folio	6201
Consent	Mr. W. H. Rowse, father of R. J. Rowse
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Crossman, Anglican Minister, Brunnerton

31 July 1916

William John Hogg
Anna Maria Louisa Nyberg

William John Hogg
Anna Maria Louisa Nyberg
💍 1916/1385

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic

22
20

Ruru
Ruru

18 months
20 years

In the private house of Mr. J. G. Nyberg at Ruru

6300

Mr. J. G. Nyberg, father of A. M. L. Nyberg

31 July 1916

Rev. Father Hanrahan, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

No	13
Date of Notice	31 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Hogg	Anna Maria Louisa Nyberg
	💍 1916/1385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Ruru	Ruru
Length of Residence	18 months	20 years
Marriage Place	In the private house of Mr. J. G. Nyberg at Ruru
Folio	6300
Consent	Mr. J. G. Nyberg, father of A. M. L. Nyberg
Date of Certificate	31 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hanrahan, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

8 September 1916

James Outram
Jane Davies (M. N. Hatch)

James Outram
Jane Davies
💍 1916/1335

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic Duties

46
46

Blackball
Blackball

21 years
21 years

In the Office of Registrar of Marriages at Ahaura

6199

8 September 1916

G. C. Richard, Registrar, Ahaura

No	14
Date of Notice	8 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Outram	Jane Davies (M. N. Hatch)
BDM Match (72%)	James Outram	Jane Davies
	💍 1916/1335
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	46	46
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of Registrar of Marriages at Ahaura
Folio	6199
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1916
Officiating Minister	G. C. Richard, Registrar, Ahaura

11 September 1916

James Frederick Tidswell
Dorothy Adeline White

James Frederick Tidswell
Dorothy Adeline White
💍 1916/731

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Switchboard Attendant

24
24

Greymouth
Ahaura

3 days
10 days

In the Holy Trinity Church Greymouth

6149

11 September 1916

Rev. Archdeacon Yorke, Anglican Clergyman, Greymouth

No	15
Date of Notice	11 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Tidswell	Dorothy Adeline White
	💍 1916/731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Switchboard Attendant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Ahaura
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In the Holy Trinity Church Greymouth
Folio	6149
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Yorke, Anglican Clergyman, Greymouth

13 September 1916

James Forshaw
Alice Dunn

James Forshaw
Alice Dunn
💍 1916/1336

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

25
24

Blackball
Blackball

2 years
3 years

In the private house of Mr. Caldwell Blackball

6200

13 September 1916

W. C. Hedgley, Presbyterian Missionary, Blackball

No	16
Date of Notice	13 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Forshaw	Alice Dunn
	💍 1916/1336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the private house of Mr. Caldwell Blackball
Folio	6200
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1916
Officiating Minister	W. C. Hedgley, Presbyterian Missionary, Blackball

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).