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 2195

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

511

10 July 1916

Maxwell Wilson
Adelaide Kathleen Goodwin

Maxwell Wilson
Adelaide Kathleen Goodwin
💍 1916/7575

Bachelor
Spinster

Steel Ceiling Fixer
Shop assistant

24
20

Christchurch
Opawa

15 months
2 months

St. Mark's Church Opawa

5221

Samuel Goodwin Father.

10 July 1916

Rev. H. Williams Anglican

No	511
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maxwell Wilson	Adelaide Kathleen Goodwin
	💍 1916/7575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steel Ceiling Fixer	Shop assistant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	15 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Opawa
Folio	5221
Consent	Samuel Goodwin Father.
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams Anglican

512

10 July 1916

Ernest Arthur Ealam
Rhoda May Kingston

Ernest Arthur Ealam
Rhoda May Kingston
💍 1916/7576

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
17

Hornby
Burwood

9 years
6 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

5222

Henry Kingston Father

10 July 1916

Registrar

No	512
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Ealam	Rhoda May Kingston
	💍 1916/7576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Burwood
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	5222
Consent	Henry Kingston Father
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

513

10 July 1916

James Dearsley
Blanche Vida Fountain

James Dearsly
Blanche Vida Fountain
💍 1916/7191

Widower 20 January 1910
Spinster

Insurance Manager

59
42

Christchurch
Wellington

25 years
6 weeks

St. Andrew's Manse Hill St. Wellington

4725

20 July 1916

Rev. J. Gibson Smith Presbyterian

No	513
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dearsley	Blanche Vida Fountain
BDM Match (96%)	James Dearsly	Blanche Vida Fountain
	💍 1916/7191
Condition	Widower 20 January 1910	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	59	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse Hill St. Wellington
Folio	4725
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith Presbyterian

514

11 July 1916

Alexander Leo Johns
Ada Constance Tutton

Alexander Leo Johns
Ada Constance Tutton
💍 1916/1123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
1 week

St. Paul's Church Papanui

5197

11 July 1916

Rev. W. H. Orbell Anglican

No	514
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Leo Johns	Ada Constance Tutton
	💍 1916/1123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Papanui
Folio	5197
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell Anglican

515

12 July 1916

Stephen Galt Trail
Margaret Caskey

Stephen Galt Trail
Margaret Caskey
💍 1916/14204

Widower 25 January 1915
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Teacher

43
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

5463

12 July 1916

Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

No	515
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Galt Trail	Margaret Caskey
	💍 1916/14204
Condition	Widower 25 January 1915	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Teacher
Age	43	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	5463
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson 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).