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 2250

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

779

17 November 1916

Edward William Leighton
Jessie Harvey McCallum

Edward William Leighton
Jessie Harvey McCallum
💍 1916/2004

Widower July 1909
Spinster

Retired Nurseryman

59
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

35 years
2 years

St. Andrews Church, Christchurch

7023

17 November 1916

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	779
Date of Notice	17 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Leighton	Jessie Harvey McCallum
	💍 1916/2004
Condition	Widower July 1909	Spinster
Profession	Retired Nurseryman
Age	59	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	35 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	7023
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

780

17 November 1916

Thomas Bond Leathwick
Agnes Arps

Thomas Bond Leathwick
Agnes Arps
💍 1916/1904

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
21

Heathcote
Christchurch

9 years
Life

Church of England, Opawa

6922

17 November 1916

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	780
Date of Notice	17 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bond Leathwick	Agnes Arps
	💍 1916/1904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Heathcote	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Opawa
Folio	6922
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

781

20 November 1916

John Edward Evans
Amelia Florence Setter

John Edward Evans
Amelia Florence Setter
💍 1916/2047

Bachelor
Widow 1908

Boilermaker

32
33

Linwood
Woolston

16 years
33 years

Church of England, Phillipstown

7117

20 November 1916

Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

No	781
Date of Notice	20 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Evans	Amelia Florence Setter
	💍 1916/2047
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 1908
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Woolston
Length of Residence	16 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Phillipstown
Folio	7117
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

782

21 November 1916

Charles Joseph Farra
Kate Cecelia Queenan

Charles Joseph Farra
Kate Cecilia Queenan
💍 1916/2005

Bachelor
Spinster

Independent Means
Draper

48
28

Addington
Addington

4 weeks
9 months

Church of the Sacred Heart, Addington

7024

21 November 1916

Rev. A. O'Hare, R.C.

No	782
Date of Notice	21 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Farra	Kate Cecelia Queenan
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Joseph Farra	Kate Cecilia Queenan
	💍 1916/2005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Independent Means	Draper
Age	48	28
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	9 months
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart, Addington
Folio	7024
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Hare, R.C.

783

21 November 1916

Frank Arnold Reid
Lizzie Cooke

Frank Arnold Reid
Lizzie Cooke
💍 1916/2006

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Boot Machinist

23
21

St. Albans
Avonside

20 years
2 years

Residence of Mr R. Standeven, 212 Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

7025

21 November 1916

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	783
Date of Notice	21 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Arnold Reid	Lizzie Cooke
	💍 1916/2006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Boot Machinist
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Avonside
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. Standeven, 212 Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	7025
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, 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).