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 1955

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

24 April 1916

John Gordon Forbes
Mabel Marion Hood

John Gordon Forbes
Mabel Marion Hood
💍 1916/6648

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic duties

25
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

16/4137

24 April 1916

Rev. J. H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	24 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Forbes	Mabel Marion Hood
	💍 1916/6648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	16/4137
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian

25 April 1916

James Herbert Wheatley
Phoebe Thompson

James Herbert Wheatley
Phoebe Thompson
💍 1916/6670

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

36
20

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 years

Church of Christ, Nelson

16/4135

Alex Thompson Memo 24/8/16

25 April 1916

Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ

No	31
Date of Notice	25 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Wheatley	Phoebe Thompson
	💍 1916/6670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Nelson
Folio	16/4135
Consent	Alex Thompson Memo 24/8/16
Date of Certificate	25 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Dickson, Church of Christ

23 April 1916

Albert Cyril Karsten
Edith May Charman

Albert Cyril Karsten
Edith May Charman
💍 1916/6669

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic duties

22
19

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
12 months

Church of England, Wakapuaka

16/4134

14 Days Notice 22/8/16

5 May 1916

Rev. Saunders, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	23 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Cyril Karsten	Edith May Charman
	💍 1916/6669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wakapuaka
Folio	16/4134
Consent	14 Days Notice 22/8/16
Date of Certificate	5 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Saunders, Church of England

27 April 1916

John August William Sigglekow
Eva Newth

John August William Sigglekow
Eva Newth
💍 1916/6647

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
30

Nelson
Nelson

38 years
30 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

16/4136

27 April 1916

C. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	33
Date of Notice	27 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John August William Sigglekow	Eva Newth
	💍 1916/6647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	38 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	16/4136
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1916
Officiating Minister	C. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

27 April 1916

Norman Rivers Kitching
Annie Selina McFarlane

Norman Rivers Kitching
Annie Selina McFarlane
💍 1916/566

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine engineer
Shop-assistant

24
22

Nelson
Nelson

8 years
3 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

16/3710

27 April 1916

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	27 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Rivers Kitching	Annie Selina McFarlane
	💍 1916/566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine engineer	Shop-assistant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	16/3710
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 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).