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 2081

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

26 April 1916

Robert Macklan
Jane Bell

Robert Macklan
Jane Bell
💍 1916/6716

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

30
21

Fairton
Allenton

1 year
20 years

at the dwelling of James Bell Lismore

4183

26 April 1916

Jas. P. Wilson

No	24
Date of Notice	26 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Macklan	Jane Bell
	💍 1916/6716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Fairton	Allenton
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of James Bell Lismore
Folio	4183
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Jas. P. Wilson

6 May 1916

John W Coaker
Katherine Sewall

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

39
27

Riverside
Ashburton

38 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

4170

6 May 1916

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

No	25
Date of Notice	6 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John W Coaker	Katherine Sewall
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Riverside	Ashburton
Length of Residence	38 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	4170
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

20 May 1916

Eustace John Rountree
Rachel Alice Rountree

Eustace John
Rachel Alice Rountree
💍 1916/6684

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

36
21

Willoughby
Willoughby

3 years
9 years

Church of England Tinwald

4172

20 May 1916

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	26
Date of Notice	20 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eustace John Rountree	Rachel Alice Rountree
BDM Match (79%)	Eustace John	Rachel Alice Rountree
	💍 1916/6684
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Willoughby	Willoughby
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Tinwald
Folio	4172
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

23 May 1916

Walter Francis Thomas
Chrissie Rebecca Hills

Walter Francis Thomas
Chrissie Rebecca Wills
💍 1916/6683

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
domestic duties

28
19

Ashburton
Allenton

28 years
19 years

at the dwelling of John Reid Netherby

4171

William Veitch Hills father of Minor

23 May 1916

Rev. George Frost

No	27
Date of Notice	23 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Francis Thomas	Chrissie Rebecca Hills
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Francis Thomas	Chrissie Rebecca Wills
	💍 1916/6683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	domestic duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	28 years	19 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of John Reid Netherby
Folio	4171
Consent	William Veitch Hills father of Minor
Date of Certificate	23 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Frost

5 June 1916

Albert Edward Church
Eliza McGee

Albert Edward Church
Eliza McGee
💍 1916/6680

Bachelor
Spinster

Traction Engine Owner
domestic duties

26
22

Allenton
Winslow

26 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

4169

5 June 1916

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	28
Date of Notice	5 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Church	Eliza McGee
	💍 1916/6680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traction Engine Owner	domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Winslow
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	4169
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

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).