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 1987

District of Takaka Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar J. R. Price

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 July 1916

Arthur Henry Morgan
Maggie Jessie Fayen

Arthur Henry Morgan
Maggie Jessie Fayen
💍 1916/1366

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

31 years
24 years

Takaka
Takaka

6 weeks
5 weeks

At the private House of Mrs. J. Milroy, Commercial Street, Takaka

16/6158

12 July 1916

Rev J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Morgan	Maggie Jessie Fayen
	💍 1916/1366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	31 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Takaka
Length of Residence	6 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	At the private House of Mrs. J. Milroy, Commercial Street, Takaka
Folio	16/6158
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

18 July 1916

Duncan McMillan McRae
Margaret Grace Poultney

Duncan McMillan McRae
Margaret Grace Poultney
💍 1916/1367

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic

25 years
18 years

Takaka
Tarakohe

18 months
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Takaka

16/6159

Matthew Buchanan Poultney, Isla Bank, Southland

18 July 1916

Rev J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	18 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McMillan McRae	Margaret Grace Poultney
	💍 1916/1367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Tarakohe
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Takaka
Folio	16/6159
Consent	Matthew Buchanan Poultney, Isla Bank, Southland
Date of Certificate	18 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

1 August 1916

Ross Balfour Alborough
Florence Emily King

Ross Balfour Alborough
Florence Emily King
💍 1916/1365

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
27

Atawhai
Waitapu

4 days
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Takaka

16/6157

1 August 1916

Rev J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ross Balfour Alborough	Florence Emily King
	💍 1916/1365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Atawhai	Waitapu
Length of Residence	4 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Takaka
Folio	16/6157
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

18 August 1916

Francis Strathallan Hayes
Ruby Alice Dodson

Francis Strathallan Hayes
Ruby Alice Dodson
💍 1916/1364

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic

22 years
24 years

Waimangaroa
Takaka

6 days
7 years

Church of Christ, Takaka

16/6156

18 August 1916

J. G. Price Church of Christ

No	9
Date of Notice	18 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Strathallan Hayes	Ruby Alice Dodson
	💍 1916/1364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Waimangaroa	Takaka
Length of Residence	6 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Takaka
Folio	16/6156
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1916
Officiating Minister	J. G. Price Church of Christ

2 September 1916

Thomas Walter Simpson
Clara Elsie Flowers

Thomas Walter Simpson
Clara Elsie Flowers
💍 1916/1608

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
23

Wairangi Nelson
Puramahoi

5 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Takaka

16/6501

2 September 1916

J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	2 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Simpson	Clara Elsie Flowers
	💍 1916/1608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wairangi Nelson	Puramahoi
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Takaka
Folio	16/6501
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1916
Officiating Minister	J. D. McFarlane Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).