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 1951

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

21 February 1916

Hugh Boyd McLaren
Alice Florence Mayo

Hugh Boyd McLaren
Alice Florence Mayo
💍 1916/6983

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
School Teacher

31
24

Nelson
Nelson

4 Days
3 Weeks

All Saints' Church, Nelson

16/4488

21 February 1916

Rev. W. S. Lucas, Church of England Minister

No	11
Date of Notice	21 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Boyd McLaren	Alice Florence Mayo
	💍 1916/6983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	School Teacher
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 Days	3 Weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	16/4488
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Lucas, Church of England Minister

23 February 1916

Frank Garguilo
Ethel May Alberta Creed

Frank Garguilo
Ethel May Alberta Creed
💍 1916/3896

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

21
21

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
11 years

Church of Christ, Waimea Road, Nelson

16/1145

23 February 1916

Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Garguilo	Ethel May Alberta Creed
	💍 1916/3896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Waimea Road, Nelson
Folio	16/1145
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ Minister

25 February 1916

Vernon Samuel Hunter
May Louisa Futter

Vernon Samuel Winter
May Louisa Futter
💍 1916/3893

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
29

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
3 weeks

Cathedral, Nelson

16/1143

25 February 1916

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	25 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Samuel Hunter	May Louisa Futter
BDM Match (95%)	Vernon Samuel Winter	May Louisa Futter
	💍 1916/3893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	16/1143
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England Minister

28 February 1916

Donald Douglas Gill
Myra Myrtle Burn

Donald Douglas Gill
Myra Myrtle Burn
💍 1916/3892

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder Member of the Expeditionary Forces
Domestic Duties

24
22

Nelson
Nelson

1 Day
22 Years

Baptist Church, Nelson

16/1142

28 February 1916

Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist Minister

No	14
Date of Notice	28 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Douglas Gill	Myra Myrtle Burn
	💍 1916/3892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder Member of the Expeditionary Forces	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 Day	22 Years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	16/1142
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist Minister

28 February 1916

Edward Christian Frederick Schroder
Kate Cordwell

Edward Christian Frederick Schroder
Kate Cordwell
💍 1916/1545

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
32

Nelson
Nelson

37 years
4 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

16/6437

28 February 1916

Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England Minister

No	15
Date of Notice	28 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Christian Frederick Schroder	Kate Cordwell
	💍 1916/1545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	37 years	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	16/6437
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers, 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).