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 2203

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

551

1 August 1916

James Jeremiah Hogan
Clara Olive Burgess

James Jeremiah Hogan
Clara Olive Burgess
💍 1916/7613

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer
Musician

36
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
4 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester St., Christchurch

5260

Edward Burgess, Father

1 August 1916

Rev. C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	551
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jeremiah Hogan	Clara Olive Burgess
	💍 1916/7613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Musician
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester St., Christchurch
Folio	5260
Consent	Edward Burgess, Father
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

552

1 August 1916

Richard Melton Jones
Mabel Buchanan

Richard Melton Jones
Mabel Buchanan
💍 1916/7614

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
20 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

5261

1 August 1916

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	552
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Melton Jones	Mabel Buchanan
	💍 1916/7614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	5261
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

553

1 August 1916

Peter Walter Olive
Maud Jenkins

Peter Walter Clive
Maud Jenkins
💍 1916/7615

Bachelor
Widow 19 January 1913

Lettercarrier

30
35

Sydenham
Sydenham

9 months
7 days

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

5262

1 August 1916

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	553
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Walter Olive	Maud Jenkins
BDM Match (97%)	Peter Walter Clive	Maud Jenkins
	💍 1916/7615
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 19 January 1913
Profession	Lettercarrier
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	9 months	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	5262
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

554

1 August 1916

George Anthony Halsey
Olive Rogers

George Anthony Halsey
Olive Rogers
💍 1916/1162

Bachelor
Spinster

Head Porter

29
21

Cashmere
Halswell

14 years
13 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

5263

1 August 1916

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	554
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anthony Halsey	Olive Rogers
	💍 1916/1162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Head Porter
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Cashmere	Halswell
Length of Residence	14 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	5263
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

555

1 August 1916

William Watson
Jessica Everitt Williams

William Watson
Jessica Everitt Williams
💍 1916/7616

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

27
23

Sydenham
Linwood

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5264

1 August 1916

Registrar

No	555
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Watson	Jessica Everitt Williams
	💍 1916/7616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5264
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).