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 2009

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar 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

28 January 1916

Tom Drysdale Lewis
Minnie Everline Hopkins

Tom Drysdale Lewis
Minnie Everline Hopkins
💍 1916/3943

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern-maker
Domestic

30
20

Te Kaka, Greymouth
Greymouth

7 months
Life

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

1176

Edward Hopkins, father

28 January 1916

Rev. E. D. Patchett

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Drysdale Lewis	Minnie Everline Hopkins
	💍 1916/3943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern-maker	Domestic
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Te Kaka, Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	1176
Consent	Edward Hopkins, father
Date of Certificate	28 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett

31 January 1916

Edwin Bade
Frances Harrieth Lawrence

Edwin Bade
Frances Harriet Lawrence
💍 1916/3938

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

37
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

30 years
4 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

1189

31 January 1916

Dean Carew

No	12
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Bade	Frances Harrieth Lawrence
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin Bade	Frances Harriet Lawrence
	💍 1916/3938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	1189
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Dean Carew

12 February 1916

Walter Angel
Mary Fillaly

Walter Angel
Mary Gillaly
💍 1916/3932

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Domestic duties

29
27

Greymouth
Runanga

29 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Runanga

1175

12 February 1916

Rev. Tho. Tweedie

No	13
Date of Notice	12 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Angel	Mary Fillaly
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Angel	Mary Gillaly
	💍 1916/3932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Runanga
Length of Residence	29 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Runanga
Folio	1175
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tho. Tweedie

25 February 1916

Arthur Raisbeck
Adeline Eleanor Juliana Schaef

Arthur Raisback
Adeline Eleanore Juliana Schaef
💍 1916/4062

Widower
Spinster

Agent
Domestic

39
42

Greymouth
Greymouth

11 days
40 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

1214

25 February 1916

Ven. Archdeacon York

No	14
Date of Notice	25 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Raisbeck	Adeline Eleanor Juliana Schaef
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Raisback	Adeline Eleanore Juliana Schaef
	💍 1916/4062
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Domestic
Age	39	42
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	11 days	40 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	1214
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon York

4 March 1916

Robert Knight
Amelia Mary Finlay

Robert Knight
Amelia Mary Finlay
💍 1916/3935

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic

30
35

Runanga
Runanga

9 years
11 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

1186

4 March 1916

Dean Carew

No	15
Date of Notice	4 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Knight	Amelia Mary Finlay
	💍 1916/3935
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	9 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	1186
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Dean Carew

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).