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 2079

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

7 April 1916

William Alexander Evans
Alice Haar

William Alexander Evans
Alice Haar
💍 1916/6696

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

18 months
22 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

4177

7 April 1916

W. W. White, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	7 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Evans	Alice Haar
	💍 1916/6696
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	18 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	4177
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

12 April 1916

William George Reddecliffe
Isabella Henderson

William George Reddecliffe
Isabella Henderson
💍 1916/6707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
27

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
14 days

Baptist Church Ashburton

4178

12 April 1916

Rev. F. Oldrieve

No	15
Date of Notice	12 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Reddecliffe	Isabella Henderson
	💍 1916/6707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Ashburton
Folio	4178
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Oldrieve

12 April 1916

Algernon James Parker
Alice Fisher

Algernon James Parker
Alice Fisher
💍 1916/12990

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolclasser
Tailoress

34
33

Fairton
Fairton

10 years
7 years Ashburton

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

4182

12 April 1916

Rev. H. N. Wright

No	16
Date of Notice	12 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Algernon James Parker	Alice Fisher
	💍 1916/12990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser	Tailoress
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Fairton	Fairton
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years Ashburton
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	4182
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright

14 April 1916

Clarence George Frampton
Agnes Taylor McDowell

Clarence George Frampton
Agnes Taylor McDowell
💍 1916/6712

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
28

Seaview
Wakanui

21 years
28 years Ashburton

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

4179

14 April 1916

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	17
Date of Notice	14 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence George Frampton	Agnes Taylor McDowell
	💍 1916/6712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Seaview	Wakanui
Length of Residence	21 years	28 years Ashburton
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	4179
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

15 April 1916

John Lawson
Elizabeth Thompson

John Lawson
Elizabeth Thompson
💍 1916/6687

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

31
28

Methven
Allenton

6 weeks Allenton Ashburton

At the dwelling of Joseph Thompson, Allenton, Ashburton

4175

15 April 1916

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	18
Date of Notice	15 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lawson	Elizabeth Thompson
	💍 1916/6687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Methven	Allenton
Length of Residence		6 weeks Allenton Ashburton
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Joseph Thompson, Allenton, Ashburton
Folio	4175
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 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).