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 2249

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

774

14 November 1916

Morton Stanley Gentles
Hester Loughrey Holmes

Morton Stanley Gautles
Hester Loughrey Holmes
💍 1916/1998

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

28
22

Christchurch
Upper Riccarton

9 years
9 years

St. Peter's Church Riccarton

7018

14 November 1916

Rev. H. T. York Anglican

No	774
Date of Notice	14 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morton Stanley Gentles	Hester Loughrey Holmes
BDM Match (95%)	Morton Stanley Gautles	Hester Loughrey Holmes
	💍 1916/1998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Upper Riccarton
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Riccarton
Folio	7018
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. York Anglican

775

16 November 1916

Harley Thomas James Gibbs
Eliza Schaffer

Harley Thomas James Gibbs
Eliza Schaffer
💍 1916/1999

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
26

Christchurch
Lincoln

5 days
Life

St. Stephen's Church Lincoln

7019

16 November 1916

Rev. F. B. Redgrave Anglican

No	775
Date of Notice	16 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harley Thomas James Gibbs	Eliza Schaffer
	💍 1916/1999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Lincoln
Length of Residence	5 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church Lincoln
Folio	7019
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave Anglican

776

16 November 1916

Frederick James Mulholland
Kathleen Ethel Major

Frederick James Mulholland
Kathleen Ethel Major
💍 1916/2001

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree absolute granted at Sydney N.S.W. in 1913

Medical Practitioner

29
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Christchurch

7020

16 November 1916

Registrar

No	776
Date of Notice	16 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Mulholland	Kathleen Ethel Major
	💍 1916/2001
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree absolute granted at Sydney N.S.W. in 1913
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	7020
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

777

17 November 1916

Joseph Sweeney
Jessie Dorothea Mackie

Joseph Sweeney
Jessie Dorothea Mackie
💍 1916/2002

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Christchurch
Riccarton

3 years
18 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

7021

Michael Mackie Father

17 November 1916

Rev. J. Long Roman Catholic

No	777
Date of Notice	17 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Sweeney	Jessie Dorothea Mackie
	💍 1916/2002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	7021
Consent	Michael Mackie Father
Date of Certificate	17 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long Roman Catholic

778

17 November 1916

Thomas Mathieson
Mary Nugent

Thomas Mathieson
Mary Nugent
💍 1916/2003

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Operator

39
40

Linwood
Linwood

15 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St Christchurch

7022

17 November 1916

Rev. J. Long Roman Catholic

No	778
Date of Notice	17 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mathieson	Mary Nugent
	💍 1916/2003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Operator
Age	39	40
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St Christchurch
Folio	7022
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long Roman Catholic

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).