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 1957

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar F. 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

8 May 1916

Frederick Stockman
Stella Jackson

Frederick Stockman
Stella Mabel Jackson
💍 1916/6632

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

43
34

Nelson
Nelson

2 weeks
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

16/4121

8 May 1916

S. Dyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	40
Date of Notice	8 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Stockman	Stella Jackson
BDM Match (85%)	Frederick Stockman	Stella Mabel Jackson
	💍 1916/6632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	16/4121
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1916
Officiating Minister	S. Dyson, Registrar of Marriages

15 May 1916

George Henry Ward
Henrietta Catherine Sawle

George Henry David
Henrietta Catherine Sawle
💍 1916/567

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk Government Railways New South Wales
Domestic duties

21
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 months

All Saints' Church, Nelson

16/3711

15 May 1916

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	15 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Ward	Henrietta Catherine Sawle
BDM Match (92%)	George Henry David	Henrietta Catherine Sawle
	💍 1916/567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk Government Railways New South Wales	Domestic duties
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	16/3711
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

15 May 1916

Morton Henry Strapp
Alice Roxina Holland

Morton Henry Strapp
Alice Roxina Holland
💍 1916/6624

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

32
24

Stoke
Nelson

6 years
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

16/4112

15 May 1916

F. W. Emerson, Deputy Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	15 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morton Henry Strapp	Alice Roxina Holland
	💍 1916/6624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	16/4112
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1916
Officiating Minister	F. W. Emerson, Deputy Registrar

22 May 1916

Joseph Daniel Rowan
Nellie Revell

Joseph Daniel Rowan
Nellie Revell
💍 1916/8593

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal clerk
Governess

34
32

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
2 years

Nelson Cathedral, Nelson

16/4113

22 May 1916

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	22 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Daniel Rowan	Nellie Revell
	💍 1916/8593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal clerk	Governess
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Nelson Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	16/4113
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

23 May 1916

Walter Charles Church
Beatrice May Clark

Walter Charles Church
Beatrice May Clark
💍 1916/568

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Dressmaker

28
26

Nelson
Nelson

12 months
4 months

All Saints' Church, Nelson

16/3712

23 May 1916

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	23 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Church	Beatrice May Clark
	💍 1916/568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Dressmaker
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 months	4 months
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	16/3712
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

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).