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 2105

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1916

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

25 January 1916

Herman Oscar Gundersen
Hilda Iris May Jarman

Herman Oscar Gundersen
Hilda Iris May Jarman
💍 1916/398

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
19

Christchurch
Linwood

18 months
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

989

Mary Rolfe Jarman, Mother

26 January 1916

Deputy-Registrar

No	71
Date of Notice	25 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Oscar Gundersen	Hilda Iris May Jarman
	💍 1916/398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	18 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	989
Consent	Mary Rolfe Jarman, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy-Registrar

26 January 1916

John Abel
Frances Joan Cuthberta Bird

John Abel
Frances Joan Cuthberta Bird
💍 1916/4628

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

28
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
4 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1933

26 January 1916

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	26 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Abel	Frances Joan Cuthberta Bird
	💍 1916/4628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1933
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

26 January 1916

Frank Few
Florence Eva Gould

Frank Few
Florence Eva Gould
💍 1916/4629

Bachelor
Spinster

Lead-light Glazier
Clerk

34
23

St. Albans
St. Albans

16 months
10 months

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

1934

26 January 1916

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	73
Date of Notice	26 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Few	Florence Eva Gould
	💍 1916/4629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lead-light Glazier	Clerk
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	16 months	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	1934
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

26 January 1916

Charles Brett Machisack
Doris Mabel Blyth

Charles Brett MacKisack
Doris Mabel Blyth
💍 1916/4630

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typiste

27
23

Christchurch
Dunedin

2 years
Life

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

1935

26 January 1916

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	74
Date of Notice	26 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Brett Machisack	Doris Mabel Blyth
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Brett MacKisack	Doris Mabel Blyth
	💍 1916/4630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typiste
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	1935
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

26 January 1916

Archie Davidson
Ivy Lillian Thornley

Archie Davidson
Ivy Lillian Thornley
💍 1916/5724

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
23

Addington
Sumner

12 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

3147

26 January 1916

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	75
Date of Notice	26 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archie Davidson	Ivy Lillian Thornley
	💍 1916/5724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Addington	Sumner
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	3147
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

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).