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 1881

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar J. E. Hall

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

3 July 1916

Richard Eddy
Eva Mildred Morgan Spinks

Richard Eddy
Dora Mildura Morgan
💍 1916/1328

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
17

Westport
Westport

1 month
17 years

Residence of Mrs B. M. Morgan, Brougham Street, Westport

6193

Eva Mary Morgan, Mother

3 July 1916

Rev. J. P. Burrows

No	20
Date of Notice	3 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Eddy	Eva Mildred Morgan Spinks
BDM Match (74%)	Richard Eddy	Dora Mildura Morgan
	💍 1916/1328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	1 month	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs B. M. Morgan, Brougham Street, Westport
Folio	6193
Consent	Eva Mary Morgan, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Burrows

5 July 1916

Leslie Alexander Frederick
Margaret Guerin

Leslie Alexander Tredinnick
Margaret Guerin
💍 1916/3127

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

31
25

Westport
Westport

4 years
25 years

Residence of Mrs Ellen Guerin, Palmerston Street, Westport

6186

5 July 1916

Rev. Father Walshe

No	21
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Alexander Frederick	Margaret Guerin
BDM Match (93%)	Leslie Alexander Tredinnick	Margaret Guerin
	💍 1916/3127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Ellen Guerin, Palmerston Street, Westport
Folio	6186
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Walshe

3 July 1916

James Luther Buick
Rowena Grace Fraser

James Suttie Buick
Rowena Fraser
💍 1916/1327

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager
Domestic

30
22

Westport
Westport

10 days
22 years

Residence of Mrs Fraser, Russell Street, Westport

6192

3 July 1916

Rev. J. P. Burrows

No	22
Date of Notice	3 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Luther Buick	Rowena Grace Fraser
BDM Match (73%)	James Suttie Buick	Rowena Fraser
	💍 1916/1327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	10 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Fraser, Russell Street, Westport
Folio	6192
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Burrows

7 July 1916

Francis Peter Hunter
Evelyn Elizabeth Watters

Francis John Hunter
Evelyn Elizabeth Mathieson
💍 1916/1325

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Housemaid

24
21

Westport
Westport

22 years
21 years

Residence of Mr Fred Watters, Romilly Street, Westport

6190

7 July 1916

Rev. J. P. Burrows

No	23
Date of Notice	7 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Peter Hunter	Evelyn Elizabeth Watters
BDM Match (76%)	Francis John Hunter	Evelyn Elizabeth Mathieson
	💍 1916/1325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Housemaid
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Fred Watters, Romilly Street, Westport
Folio	6190
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Burrows

15 July 1916

Arthur Golding
Ellen Grace Gibson

John Henry Golding
Ellen Grace Gibson
💍 1916/1324

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Servant

22
17

Westport
Millerton

12 years
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Westport

6189

Robert Gibson, Father

15 July 1916

Rev. J. P. Burrows

No	24
Date of Notice	15 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Golding	Ellen Grace Gibson
BDM Match (75%)	John Henry Golding	Ellen Grace Gibson
	💍 1916/1324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Servant
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Westport	Millerton
Length of Residence	12 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Westport
Folio	6189
Consent	Robert Gibson, Father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Burrows

18 July 1916

Alexander McGillivray
Eliza Ann Williams

Alexander McGillivray
Eliza Anne Williams
💍 1916/1326

Widower
Spinster

Retired Farmer
Domestic Servant

68
32

Giles Terrace
Westport

40 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Westport

6191

18 July 1916

The Registrar, Westport

No	25
Date of Notice	18 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McGillivray	Eliza Ann Williams
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander McGillivray	Eliza Anne Williams
	💍 1916/1326
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	68	32
Dwelling Place	Giles Terrace	Westport
Length of Residence	40 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport
Folio	6191
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1916
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Westport

11 August 1916

Raymond Walter Wilson
Margaret Mary Kilkenny

Raymond Walter Wilson
Margaret Mary Kilkenny
💍 1916/1346

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Tailoress

23
24

Westport
Westport

23 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

6187

11 August 1916

Rev. Father Walshe

No	26
Date of Notice	11 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Walter Wilson	Margaret Mary Kilkenny
	💍 1916/1346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Tailoress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	6187
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Walshe

15 August 1916

Albert David Wilfred Phetney
Margaret Emma Blair

Albert Reynold Wilfred Prestney
Margaret Emma Blair
💍 1916/1344

Widower
Spinster

Stableman
Domestic

29
20

Westport
Westport

18 months
8 years

Residence of Mrs Blair, Westport

6185

Mrs Blair, Mother

15 August 1916

Rev. J. P. Burrows

No	27
Date of Notice	15 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert David Wilfred Phetney	Margaret Emma Blair
BDM Match (87%)	Albert Reynold Wilfred Prestney	Margaret Emma Blair
	💍 1916/1344
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stableman	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	18 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Blair, Westport
Folio	6185
Consent	Mrs Blair, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Burrows

26 August 1916

Donald William Angus Henderson
Emily Jane Hass

Dugald William Angus Henderson
Emily Jane Wass
💍 1916/1343

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

45
41

Westport
Westport

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Westport

6184

26 August 1916

The Registrar, Westport

No	28
Date of Notice	26 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald William Angus Henderson	Emily Jane Hass
BDM Match (93%)	Dugald William Angus Henderson	Emily Jane Wass
	💍 1916/1343
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport
Folio	6184
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1916
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Westport

22 September 1916

Dennis Dwyer
Winifred Crowley

Dennis Dwyer
Winifred Crowley
💍 1916/1323

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

36
26

Westport
Westport

2 months
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

6188

22 September 1916

Rev. Father Walshe

No	29
Date of Notice	22 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dennis Dwyer	Winifred Crowley
	💍 1916/1323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	6188
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Walshe

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).