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 2083

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar W. W. White

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

5 July 1916

Alfred William Long
Mary Hoare

Alfred William Long
Mary Hoare
💍 1916/8370

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Teacher

31
42

Ashburton
Winchmore

3 days
6 months

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6119

5 July 1916

Rev. H. N. Wright

No	32
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Long	Mary Hoare
	💍 1916/8370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Teacher
Age	31	42
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Winchmore
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6119
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright

5 July 1916

George Samuel Manson
Ruby Eila Jane Rapley

Samuel George Manson
Ruby Ella Jane Rapley
💍 1916/8371

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

55
53

Lakeside
Ashburton

3 days

Baring Square Church Ashburton

6120

5 July 1916

Rev. Geo. Frost

No	33
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Samuel Manson	Ruby Eila Jane Rapley
BDM Match (68%)	Samuel George Manson	Ruby Ella Jane Rapley
	💍 1916/8371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	55	53
Dwelling Place	Lakeside	Ashburton
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	6120
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Frost

8 July 1916

Richard Brown
Charlotte Turner

Richard Brown
Charlotte Turners
💍 1916/8372

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

22
20

Coldstream
Seafield

3 weeks
6 months

At the dwelling of J. Christiansen William Street Ashburton

6121

Jessie Turner, mother of minor

8 July 1916

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	34
Date of Notice	8 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Brown	Charlotte Turner
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Brown	Charlotte Turners
	💍 1916/8372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Coldstream	Seafield
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of J. Christiansen William Street Ashburton
Folio	6121
Consent	Jessie Turner, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	8 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

11 July 1916

James Valentine Foster
Louisa Bethia Harris

James Valentine Forster
Louisa Bethia Harris
💍 1916/1447

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6116

11 July 1916

W. W. White, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Valentine Foster	Louisa Bethia Harris
BDM Match (98%)	James Valentine Forster	Louisa Bethia Harris
	💍 1916/1447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6116
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

13 July 1916

Matthew Spencer
Eliza Ann Hard

Matthew Spencer
Eliza Ann Ward
💍 1916/1448

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

75
72

Ashburton Forks
Ashburton Forks

36 years
35 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6117

13 July 1916

W. W. White, Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	13 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Spencer	Eliza Ann Hard
BDM Match (96%)	Matthew Spencer	Eliza Ann Ward
	💍 1916/1448
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	75	72
Dwelling Place	Ashburton Forks	Ashburton Forks
Length of Residence	36 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6117
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).