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 1963

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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

2 October 1916

Gilbert William Kidson Woolf
Margaret Isabella Blackie

Gilbert William Kidson Woolf
Margaret Isabella Blackie
💍 1916/2760

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic duties

23
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 weeks
3 weeks

Residence of Mr. W. Woodward, 79 Grove Street, Nelson

16/7864

Andrew Blackie, Father

2 October 1916

Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan

No	64
Date of Notice	2 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert William Kidson Woolf	Margaret Isabella Blackie
	💍 1916/2760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Woodward, 79 Grove Street, Nelson
Folio	16/7864
Consent	Andrew Blackie, Father
Date of Certificate	2 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan

2 October 1916

Christopher Charles Miles
Catherine Eliza Leigh

Christopher Charles Miles
Catherine Eliza Leigh
💍 1916/3001

Widower
Widow

Hotel assistant
Storekeeper

66
46

Nelson
Nelson

10 years
11 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

16/8213

2 October 1916

Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

No	65
Date of Notice	2 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Charles Miles	Catherine Eliza Leigh
	💍 1916/3001
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Hotel assistant	Storekeeper
Age	66	46
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 years	11 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	16/8213
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

4 October 1916

Thorburn George Ramage
Ellen Sandall

Thorburn George Ramage
Ellen Sandall
💍 1916/2761

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic servant

38
46

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

16/7865

4 October 1916

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	66
Date of Notice	4 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thorburn George Ramage	Ellen Sandall
	💍 1916/2761
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	38	46
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	16/7865
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1916
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

5 October 1916

Robert Stuart McKeage
Madeleine Teresa Tomlinson

Robert Stuart McKeage
Madeline Teresa Tomlinson
💍 1916/2763

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Musician

33
32

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
3 days

Nelson Cathedral, Nelson

16/7867

5 October 1916

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

No	67
Date of Notice	5 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stuart McKeage	Madeleine Teresa Tomlinson
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Stuart McKeage	Madeline Teresa Tomlinson
	💍 1916/2763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Musician
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	Nelson Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	16/7867
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

6 October 1916

James Rathbone Fayen
Ellen Mary Jenner

James Rathbone Fayen
Ellen Mary Jenner
💍 1916/2762

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

25
17

Nelson
Nelson

7 months
17 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

16/7866

James Jenner, Father

6 October 1916

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	68
Date of Notice	6 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rathbone Fayen	Ellen Mary Jenner
	💍 1916/2762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 months	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	16/7866
Consent	James Jenner, Father
Date of Certificate	6 October 1916
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

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).