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 2023

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar L. Thompson

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 January 1916

Michael James Pulley
Catherine Maud Goodwin

Michael James Pulley
Catherine Maud Goodwin
💍 1916/3953

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Housemaid

26
25

Stafford
Stafford

4 months
20 years

Registrars Office Hokitika

1180

8 January 1916

The Registrar of Marriages Hokitika

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael James Pulley	Catherine Maud Goodwin
	💍 1916/3953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Housemaid
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Stafford	Stafford
Length of Residence	4 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hokitika
Folio	1180
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1916
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages Hokitika

15 January 1916

James Ernest Smith
Grace Mary Elizabeth Wall

James Ernest Smith
Grace Mary Elizabeth Wall
💍 1916/3934

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
18

Koiterangi
Koiterangi

30 years
15 years

Church of England Hokitika

1185

Amos Wall Father

15 January 1916

J.E. Holloway Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ernest Smith	Grace Mary Elizabeth Wall
	💍 1916/3934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	18
Dwelling Place	Koiterangi	Koiterangi
Length of Residence	30 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	1185
Consent	Amos Wall Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1916
Officiating Minister	J.E. Holloway Church of England

8 February 1916

James Christian Hende
Ellie Minnie Karnbach

James Christian Hende
Ellie Minnie Karnbach
💍 1916/3933

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
31

Hokitika
Kokatahi

4 days
31 years

Church of England Hokitika

1184

8 February 1916

J.E. Holloway Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	8 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Christian Hende	Ellie Minnie Karnbach
	💍 1916/3933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Kokatahi
Length of Residence	4 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	1184
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1916
Officiating Minister	J.E. Holloway Church of England

11 February 1916

Henry Adolphus Finch
Irene Elizabeth Thomas

Henry Adolphus Finch
Aileen Elizabeth Thomas
💍 1916/3956

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

22
19

Hokitika
Arahura

3 years
19 years

Church of England Hokitika

1183

Henry Thomas Father

11 February 1916

J.E. Holloway Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	11 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Adolphus Finch	Irene Elizabeth Thomas
BDM Match (89%)	Henry Adolphus Finch	Aileen Elizabeth Thomas
	💍 1916/3956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Arahura
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	1183
Consent	Henry Thomas Father
Date of Certificate	11 February 1916
Officiating Minister	J.E. Holloway Church of England

24 February 1916

Lawrence Pilgrim Kirk Gooch
Sylvia Victoria Holley

Lawrence Pilgrim Kirk Gooch
Sylvia Victoria Holley
💍 1916/3955

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

26
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

26 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church Hokitika

1182

24 February 1916

P.B. Fraser Presbyterian Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Pilgrim Kirk Gooch	Sylvia Victoria Holley
	💍 1916/3955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hokitika
Folio	1182
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	P.B. Fraser Presbyterian Minister

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).