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 2159

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

336

27 April 1916

Robert Heartley Goodall
Virtue Hannah Gibbs

Robert Heartly Goodall
Virtue Hannah Gibbs
💍 1916/5868

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Dressmaker

26
28

Beckenham
Cashmere

6 years
10 years

Dwelling of Mr. Sears, 17 Wherstead Rd, Cashmere

3245

27 April 1916

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	336
Date of Notice	27 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Heartley Goodall	Virtue Hannah Gibbs
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Heartly Goodall	Virtue Hannah Gibbs
	💍 1916/5868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Dressmaker
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Beckenham	Cashmere
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Sears, 17 Wherstead Rd, Cashmere
Folio	3245
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

337

27 April 1916

Roland Fisher
May Ellen Bowden

Roland Fisher
May Ellen Cowlin
💍 1916/5862

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
Life

Dwelling of Mr. W. Bowden, 76 Burke St., Addington

3240

27 April 1916

Rev. T. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	337
Date of Notice	27 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Fisher	May Ellen Bowden
BDM Match (91%)	Roland Fisher	May Ellen Cowlin
	💍 1916/5862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	Life
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. Bowden, 76 Burke St., Addington
Folio	3240
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Vealie, Methodist

338

27 April 1916

Alexander Matthew Shepherd
Edith Irene Tipler

Alexander Matthew Shepherd
Edith Irene Tipler
💍 1916/5863

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance clerk
Tailoress

21
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
19 years

Dwelling of Mr. W. Tipler, 28 Talfourd St., Sydenham

3241

Wm. Tipler, Father

27 April 1916

Rev. H. A. Job, Congregational

No	338
Date of Notice	27 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Matthew Shepherd	Edith Irene Tipler
	💍 1916/5863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance clerk	Tailoress
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. Tipler, 28 Talfourd St., Sydenham
Folio	3241
Consent	Wm. Tipler, Father
Date of Certificate	27 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job, Congregational

339

28 April 1916

Leonard Arthur Cade
Mary Thorn

Leonard Arthur Cade
Mary Thorn
💍 1916/7137

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

26
24

Addington
Christchurch

17 years
Life

Dwelling of Mr. J. Thorn, 82 Antigua St., Christchurch

4693

28 April 1916

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	339
Date of Notice	28 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur Cade	Mary Thorn
	💍 1916/7137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	Life
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. J. Thorn, 82 Antigua St., Christchurch
Folio	4693
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

340

28 April 1916

Ivan Lionel Augustus Powell
Jane Hutchison Brown

Ivan Lionel Augustus Powell
Jane Hutchison Brown
💍 1916/5864

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Factory Hand

37
32

Sydenham
New Brighton

10 days
6 weeks

Dwelling of Mr. T. Brown, 12 Albemarle St., Sydenham

3242

28 April 1916

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	340
Date of Notice	28 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Lionel Augustus Powell	Jane Hutchison Brown
	💍 1916/5864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Factory Hand
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	New Brighton
Length of Residence	10 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. T. Brown, 12 Albemarle St., Sydenham
Folio	3242
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

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).