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 1953

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. W. Emerson

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

10 April 1916

Harry Crimp Syder
Beatrice Minnie Banks

Harry Crimp Syder
Beatrice Minnie Banks
💍 1916/6240

Bachelor
Spinster

New Zealand Railway Employee
Domestic

21
26

Nelson
Nelson

1 week
1 week

Dwelling of William Oswald Price, Brougham Street, Nelson

16/3708

10 April 1916

Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Crimp Syder	Beatrice Minnie Banks
	💍 1916/6240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	New Zealand Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Oswald Price, Brougham Street, Nelson
Folio	16/3708
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England

11 April 1916

Frederick William Harris Daw
Agnes Marion Gibson

Frederick William Harris Daw
Agnes Marion Gibson
💍 1916/6638

Bachelor
Spinster

Mining and electrical engineer

31
24

Nelson
Stoke

7 days
2 years

Cathedral, Nelson

16/4126

11 April 1916

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	11 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Harris Daw	Agnes Marion Gibson
	💍 1916/6638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mining and electrical engineer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Stoke
Length of Residence	7 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	16/4126
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

12 April 1916

Llewellyn Grey Rowling
Pearle Katherine Wright

Llewellyn Grey Rowling
Pearle Catherine Wright
💍 1916/6646

Bachelor
Spinster

Hop-grower
Domestic duties

21
33

Nelson
Nelson

1 month
1 month

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

16/4127

12 April 1916

P. Dyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	22
Date of Notice	12 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Grey Rowling	Pearle Katherine Wright
BDM Match (98%)	Llewellyn Grey Rowling	Pearle Catherine Wright
	💍 1916/6646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hop-grower	Domestic duties
Age	21	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	16/4127
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1916
Officiating Minister	P. Dyson, Registrar of Marriages

12 April 1916

Ernest Clifford Cummings
Winifred Gladys Rowe

Ernest Clifford Cummings
Winifred Gladys Rowe
💍 1916/6657

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28
20

Wakapuaka
Nelson

28 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

16/4128

Henry Rowe, Father

12 April 1916

Rev. J. H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	12 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Clifford Cummings	Winifred Gladys Rowe
	💍 1916/6657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wakapuaka	Nelson
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	16/4128
Consent	Henry Rowe, Father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian

13 April 1916

William Wallace Brewerton
Lizzie May Rhodes

William Wallace Brewerton
Lizzie May Rhodes
💍 1916/6664

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
22

Nelson
Nelson

2 months
2 months

Residence of Ven. W. Hockey, Brook Street, Nelson

16/4129

13 April 1916

Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist

No	24
Date of Notice	13 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wallace Brewerton	Lizzie May Rhodes
	💍 1916/6664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Ven. W. Hockey, Brook Street, Nelson
Folio	16/4129
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist

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).