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 2011

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar E. W. Cave

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

3 April 1916

Richard Southward
Susan Mary Medlin

Richard Southward
Susan Mary Medlin
💍 1916/6694

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic

21
30

Runanga
Runanga

2 years
9 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

4159

3 April 1916

Rev. G. A. Crossman (Church of England)

No	17
Date of Notice	3 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Southward	Susan Mary Medlin
	💍 1916/6694
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	30
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	4159
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Crossman (Church of England)

19 April 1916

William John Waugh
Margaret Blair Smith

William John Waugh
Margaret Blair Smith
💍 1916/6663

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-hand
Cook

37
30

Boddy Town, Greymouth
Greymouth

7 years 3 days
5 years

St John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

4151

19 April 1916

Rev. P. B. Fraser (Presbyterian)

No	18
Date of Notice	19 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Waugh	Margaret Blair Smith
	💍 1916/6663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-hand	Cook
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Boddy Town, Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 years 3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	4151
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Fraser (Presbyterian)

4 May 1916

Randall Fergus McKay
Maggie Flintoff

Randall Fergus McKay
Maggie Flintoff
💍 1916/6690

Bachelor
Spinster

Wireless Telegraphist
Clerk

27
27

Cobden
Cobden

3 days
3 days

Church of the Resurrection, Cobden

4155

4 May 1916

Rev. G. A. Crossman (Church of England)

No	19
Date of Notice	4 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randall Fergus McKay	Maggie Flintoff
	💍 1916/6690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wireless Telegraphist	Clerk
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Cobden
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Resurrection, Cobden
Folio	4155
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Crossman (Church of England)

13 May 1916

George Joseph White
Mary Cargill

George Joseph White
Mary Cargill
💍 1916/6693

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
General Servant

52
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

Seven days
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

4158

13 May 1916

Rev. Dean Carew (Roman Catholic)

No	20
Date of Notice	13 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph White	Mary Cargill
	💍 1916/6693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	General Servant
Age	52	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	Seven days	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	4158
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Carew (Roman Catholic)

13 May 1916

James Kyle
Hilda Lemon

James Kyle
Hilda Lemon
💍 1916/6671

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
18

Runanga
Runanga

7 years
7 years

Dwelling of Mr George Lemon, Pitt Street, Runanga

4152

George Lemon; father

13 May 1916

Rev. P. B. Fraser (Presbyterian)

No	21
Date of Notice	13 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kyle	Hilda Lemon
	💍 1916/6671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr George Lemon, Pitt Street, Runanga
Folio	4152
Consent	George Lemon; father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Fraser (Presbyterian)

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).