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 2097

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

12 January 1916

Francis John Carter
Laura May Jackson

Francis John Carter
Laura May Jackson
💍 1916/4700

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
8 months

St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton

1908

12 January 1916

Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Carter	Laura May Jackson
	💍 1916/4700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

12 January 1916

Harry Norman Francis
Flora Campbell Little

Harry Norman Francis
Flora Campbell Little
💍 1916/4678

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
5 days

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1909

12 January 1916

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Norman Francis	Flora Campbell Little
	💍 1916/4678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1909
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

12 January 1916

Charles Branfield Emmett Butcher
Martha Annie Grainger

Charles Cranfield Emmett Butcher
Martha Annie Grainger
💍 1916/4679

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Tailoress

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
Life

Dwelling of Mr. W. H. Grainger, 12 Cecil St. Waltham

1910

12 January 1916

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Branfield Emmett Butcher	Martha Annie Grainger
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Cranfield Emmett Butcher	Martha Annie Grainger
	💍 1916/4679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Tailoress
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. H. Grainger, 12 Cecil St. Waltham
Folio	1910
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

12 January 1916

Francis John Runcie
Isabella Tilly McTainsh

Francis John Runcie
Isabella Lilly McTainsh
💍 1916/10711

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
4 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1911

12 January 1916

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Runcie	Isabella Tilly McTainsh
BDM Match (98%)	Francis John Runcie	Isabella Lilly McTainsh
	💍 1916/10711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1911
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

12 January 1916

Francis Agustas Marquet
May Helena Ann Odgers

Francis Agustas Marquet
May Helena Ann Odgers
💍 1916/10712

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant

19
17

Woolston
Woolston

15 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. R. Odgers, 24 Maunsell St., Woolston

1912

Harry Marquet, Father; Richard Odgers, Father

12 January 1916

Rev. W. Laycock, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Agustas Marquet	May Helena Ann Odgers
	💍 1916/10712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	15 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Odgers, 24 Maunsell St., Woolston
Folio	1912
Consent	Harry Marquet, Father; Richard Odgers, Father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock, Methodist

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).