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 1949

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar S. Tyson

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

12 January 1916

Robert Collingwood Cartner
Florence Emily Shone

Robert Collingwood Cartner
Florence Emily Shone
💍 1916/3925

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
School Teacher

30
27

Nelson
Nelson

3 Weeks
27 Years

St John's Methodist Church, Nelson

16/1152

12 January 1916

Rev. H. Baumber Methodist Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Collingwood Cartner	Florence Emily Shone
	💍 1916/3925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	School Teacher
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Weeks	27 Years
Marriage Place	St John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	16/1152
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Baumber Methodist Minister

14 January 1916

Christopher Robert McDonogh
Edith Gertrude Tear

Christopher Robert McDonogh
Edith Gertrude Tear
💍 1916/6980

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29
25

Nelson
Nelson

29 years
25 Years

All Saints' Church of England, Nelson

16/4485

14 January 1916

Rev. J. Rogers Church of England Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Robert McDonogh	Edith Gertrude Tear
	💍 1916/6980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	29 years	25 Years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church of England, Nelson
Folio	16/4485
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers Church of England Minister

21 January 1916

Henry Victor Newport
Edith Patterson

Harry Victor Newport
Edith Pattersen
💍 1916/3919

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 Weeks
3 Weeks

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

16/1151

21 January 1916

Rev. J. Symons Roman Catholic Priest

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Victor Newport	Edith Patterson
BDM Match (92%)	Harry Victor Newport	Edith Pattersen
	💍 1916/3919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Weeks	3 Weeks
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	16/1151
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Symons Roman Catholic Priest

29 January 1916

Harry Charles Cook
Louisa Maud Bright

Henry Charles Cook
Louisa Maud Bright
💍 1916/3908

Widower
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer Minister
Domestic Duties

48
41

Nelson
Nelson

4 Days
14 Days

Residence of Maria Wright, Examiner Street, Nelson

16/1150

29 January 1916

William Gist Salvation Army Officer

No	4
Date of Notice	29 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Charles Cook	Louisa Maud Bright
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Charles Cook	Louisa Maud Bright
	💍 1916/3908
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer Minister	Domestic Duties
Age	48	41
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 Days	14 Days
Marriage Place	Residence of Maria Wright, Examiner Street, Nelson
Folio	16/1150
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1916
Officiating Minister	William Gist Salvation Army Officer

31 January 1916

Cyril Montague Bartlett
Hester Hawthorn Ham

Cyril Montague Bartlett
Hester Hawthorn Ham
💍 1916/3899

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
44

Nelson
Nelson

3 Days
3 years

The Cathedral, Nelson

16/1148

31 January 1916

Rev. G. E. Weeks Church of England Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Montague Bartlett	Hester Hawthorn Ham
	💍 1916/3899
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	44
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 years
Marriage Place	The Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	16/1148
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks Church of England Minister

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).